Red and Gold
by xxannylynn
Summary: As Ryou is on holiday, he is attacked by a group of death eaters and uses the Shadows to fend them off. Voldemort catches wind of his powers and sets his sights on all of the Millennium Item Holders. Professor Dumbledore offers them sanctuary in Hogwarts, but what happens when Yugi, Malik, and Ryou realize that they aren't the only ones that can wield the power of the Shadows?
1. Chapter 1

**Description: As Ryou Bakura is on holiday, he is attacked by a group of death eaters and uses the Shadows to fend them off. Voldemort catches wind of his powers and sets his sights on all of the Millennium Item Holders. Professor Dumbledore offers them sanctuary in Hogwarts, but what happens when Yugi, Malik, and Ryou realize that Shadow Magic isn't the only power that they wield? And that they aren't the only ones who can wield it? Old foes unite with new ones, and the transfers realize that not all is what it seems at Hogwarts. **

**Set in 5th Year, and there isn't really a specific point in the Yu-Gi-Oh series where this takes place, just at any given point after Battle City I suppose. It's not relevant to the story anyways.**

**Pairings: Ryou/OC**

**Unfortunately, I own absolutely nothing in this story. But all the Harry Potter and YuGiOh characters are not even close to being mine! If only …**

Chapter 1:

It was a typical rainy day in London, England. To the untrained eye, nothing seemed amiss.

But, lurking in the shadows, there was a stout man darting through the outskirts of the crowd. He went unnoticed by the pedestrians.

He was terrified.

The man's face was covered in a light sheen of sweat, and he was visibly trembling. His right hand was buried deep in the pockets of his robes, clutching at something that was not visible.

The man checked his watch, and let out a small squeak of terror. The time was nearly upon him when _they _would come. He counted down the minutes, waiting for the moment when a sudden chill would encase the busy street.

Cracks exploded through the air, and a dozen masked and robed figured had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Simultaneously, they all pulled sticks out of their pockets and began shooting lights out of them, shouting nonsense words. A few people fell.

As they realized what was going on, the crowd began screaming, and they nearly trampled one another in their desperate haste to get as far away from the strange phenomenon as possible.

But, standing right in the middle of the fray, was a pale, white haired boy who looked completely unfazed, as if people appeared out of nowhere and fired lights out of sticks at him everyday.

One of the hooded figures noticed this boy, and smiled. He stalked up to him, and raised his stick to the boy's heart.

The boy's eyes flashed. They had suddenly gone from a light chocolate brown to a dark, blood red. A strange ring around his neck began to glow.

"Cruc-"

The man never finished. A flash of black exploded from the ring and encased him, leaving absolutely no trace of the man whatsoever when the darkness dissapated.

The boy smiled.

He pulled an unremarkable orange and black card from his pocket, and raised it high for the eyes of the fast approaching remaining hooded figures.

"Rise, Obelisk." He commanded. The ring around his neck flashed again, and a blue behemoth blossomed from the card. The monster was twice the size of the buildings that surrounded them. The figures fired more lights at the monster, to no effect whatsoever.

"Attack," the boy said.

Obelisk did just that. With a roar that could be heard miles away, the monster attacked the remaining figures.

When the dust died down from the explosion, 11 bodies littered the now empty street of London.

The boy and his monster were nowhere to be seen.

The only movement was a large rat that was scurrying down into a sewage drain.

**xxx**

At about the same time, Harry Potter's lightning shaped scar began to sear.

**xxx**

**Hey guys! I I know that this chapter is really short, but it you will just bear with me for the moment I promise to update more as soon as humanly possible. I have lots of great ideas.**

**Please review. This is my first story and I'm open to any suggestions that you have for me.**

**I hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing of the Harry Potter or the YuGiOh variety. Just Ellie. She's all mine.**

**-**_blah_**- = speaking through mind link. (note that the yamis can phase out and speak like normal human beings, and witches and wizards can see and hear them when they phase out, but we don't know that yet)**

**Enjoy!**

**xxx**

Chapter 2

Lord Voldemort was a merciful lord. His followers and servants were so very lucky to have him as their master. So, although he was murderous when Wormtail reported the counter attack on his fellow Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort did not kill him. He tortured him until he was begging for death, he tortured him until he forgot his own name, and he tortured him until Wormtail was reduced to a sobbing, trembling mess at his feet. But Lord Voldemort did not kill him. He had already lost 12 of his few followers, and he could not afford to be wasteful.

Hours later, when Wormtail finally came to his senses, he told his master of the white haired boy who possessed the ability to make a Death Eater disappear in a field of darkness that he produced from a ring around his neck, and summon a monster powerful enough to resist the curses of 12 fully grown wizards at once.

Lord Voldemort laughed a cold, high, laugh. He must find this boy. He must recruit this boy. If this one boy could take down 12 Death Eaters on his own, what could he do when he had the brilliant mind of the Dark Lord controlling his actions?

**xxx**

"What's the matter, Harry?" Asked Harry's neighbor, Elizabeth Milton. Elizabeth actually preferred to be called (the much less formal) Ellie. Ellie unstuck her unruly blonde curls from the back of her sweaty neck. She hated heat, and this bloody drought that they were going through was enough to make her go crazy.

Harry sighed. "It's my scar. It's been hurting again. Voldemort… Voldemort is after somebody else. A boy. He's young, I think about our age. He believes that this boy possesses some sort of power and Voldemort wants to control him."

Ever since his return last spring, Harry's scar had been hurting almost nonstop. Voldemort was recruiting, rebuilding his strength and army. He was constantly after people. Powerful people who were left defenseless because they were manipulated into believing that Harry was lying about Voldemort's return.

Harry felt guilty. There have been so many victims lately, both muggle and magical. Apparently there had been an attack on a muggle street in London the day before. The Daily Prophet hadn't said much about it though, because the ministry wanted to keep it hushed up. Harry knew that he could not stop Voldemort from going after all of his targets. He did not have enough information to do anything. All he caught were feelings from Voldemort and small snippets of conversation that never seemed to help.

But Lord Voldemort had never set his sights on anybody so young (other than himself). The Boy Who Lived would never wish his fate on another soul, and the thought of someone else completely innocent being in his shoes terrified him to no end.

Ellie bit her lip. She was lost for words. She felt bad for her friend, and she desperately wanted to help, but she could not think of anything to say. She settled for reaching out and gently rubbing Harry's arm. There was absolutely nothing romantic about their relationship, but Harry still drew comfort from the soothing gesture of his lifelong friend.

"I just hope that the boy will be okay." He whispered.

"Me too, Harry." She replied, thankful for something to say. "Keep an eye out, and look for an opportunity to get information on him. Maybe Dumbledore can help."

"Mmm."

"What kind of powers did he have anyways? Could you tell?" Ellie asked.

"No," Harry frowned. A short silence ensued. "But Voldemort was very very pleased. Nothing that makes him that happy can be good for us. And he was very desperate to get to this boy."

Another silence, this one much longer. The hot sun beating down on the two seemed to become even hotter as the clock reached noon.

After awhile, Ellie stood up, wincing as her bare legs unstuck themselves from the cheap plastic park bench that the pair have been sitting on. "Let's go home and get some dinner. I want to check if Genevieve is back with Ron and Hermione's responses." Plus she thought that her pale skin was beginning to burn from all the sun.

"I doubt it. Those two have been ignoring us all damn summer," Harry said bitterly.

Aware that Harry's temper has been very short this summer, Ellie was quick to try to make peace by telling him that they were probably just very busy with OWL preparations and didn't have the chance to answer. Harry just grunted. He didn't buy it, she could tell, but he appreciated her feeble attempt to make him feel better.

But it was bothering Ellie as well. She would never admit it, but the lack of communication from two of her best friends was starting to wear on her. It hurt to think that they were ignoring her letters, which, by this point, it was fairly obvious that they were doing. At least she and Harry had each other, though.

"Come on, Harry." She said, eager to get her mind off of her troubles.

He finally got up off of the park bench and the two of them began walking home through the scorching heat. They talked about Quidditch, their OWLs, and made fun of the Dursley's the whole way home. When they finally reached Number 4, Private Drive, they said their goodbyes and Harry went inside the comfort of the air conditioned home. Ellie heard Mr. Dursley screaming at him to close the door before he let out all of the cool air. Poor Harry, she thought, as she forced herself to keep walking and not to barge right in and do something to make that awful man be nice to Harry.

Harry and Ellie grew up together, and they were very protective of each other. It was like they were siblings. They had met at the age of 4 at Dudley's birthday party. Petunia had invited all of the neighborhood kids and their parents, Ellie included. The Milton's and the Dursley's were good friends. But of course Harry was forbidden to join in on the festivities and he was locked in his cupboard under the stairs the whole time.

But Ellie, desperate to get away from Dudley (who had developed a huge crush on her and was pelting her with cake and mud), ran inside the house in search of a hiding spot. Preferably with a sink, so she could wash all of the icky stuff out of her wild blond hair.

She had thought that the door to Harry's cupboard led to the toilet, and she undid the latch and opened the door. What she expected to find was a loo. What she found was a tiny boy with unruly jet black hair, and a funny scar on his forehead. He was wearing a pair of ratty, too-big suspenders and was sitting on a tangle of blankets and pillows.

"Hullo," He said to her.

"Hello. What are you doing in here?"

"I dunno."

"What's that on your forehead?"

"I dunno." He replied. "What's that stuff in your hair?"

Ellie frowned. "Mud. And cake. Yuck." She pulled a curl taut to show the mess, and made a face, as if to demonstrate her misfortune.

"Yuck?" His expression suddenly became very sad. "I've never been allowed to eat cake. What's it like?"

"Cake? It's delicious! It's soft, and fluffy, and sweet…" She trailed off. "What's your name?

"Harry Potter. What's yours?"

She curtsied like her mother taught her (feeling quite ridiculous), and giggled embarrassedly. "My name is Ellie Milton."

"I'm Dudley's cousin. I wasn't allowed to come to the party."

Ellie nodded, under the impression that Harry had been bad and this was his punishment.

"Would you like some cake, Harry? I can sneak you some if you'd like."

Harry's eyes lit up and his face broke into the biggest smile he had ever given anyone. "I would love some, thank you." Nobody had ever been nice to him before.

After that, the two had become inseparable. They attended primary school together, and were very very shocked when they met on the Hogwarts Express. Ellie was a muggleborn, and the two 11 year olds rejoiced in their dream come true of attending a school for magic together.

Smiling at the memory, Ellie walked into her home, and sighed in relief at the cool air. She yelled to whoever was listening that she was home, and ran up the stairs to her room. When she spotted Genevieve perched on the open windowsill, Ellie got very excited. They had finally replied!

Ellie ran over to the owl and removed the letters from her leg. She adjusted her square rimmed glasses and opened the first one up.

Her heart sank. It wasn't the handwriting of her best friends looking back up at her, but her own. Genevieve had brought the unread letters back to her. With a flicker of hope, Ellie looked at the second letter. It was the same deal there.

They had never read her letters.

Why were Ron and Hermione ignoring them?

**xxx**

Ryou Bakura awoke with a splitting headache pounding at his brain. He had no recollection of how he had gotten back to his hotel and into his rented bed. He was in England, visiting the graves of his mother and Amane. His father was supposed to have met him, but of course he had called last minute and told Ryou that he couldn't make it.

He groaned. The Spirit of the Ring must have taken control again. The last thing that Ryou remembers is walking down a busy London street, and hearing a series of loud cracks.

-Koe?- He asked through the mind link.

-What, host?- Came the irritated reply.

-What happened last night?-

-I was paying my rent, yanodoushi.- He chuckled meanly.

Ryou panicked when he heard this. He immediately did a once over, and checked the hotel room for any valuables that were not his. You never know what the Thief King might steal. He found nothing out of the usual.

-We were attacked, host.- The spirit told him. -I saved the body from harm.-

-We were attacked? In England?- Ryou was shocked. He had thought that Yugi was the danger magnet. For once Ryou was glad to have the Spirit on his side.

The Spirit opened the mind link further, and showed Ryou a replay of what had happened the night before. Ryou was frightened.

-Really, host,- The spirit began casually, enjoying Ryou's fear, -You are lucky that I was there to save you. You are also lucky we share a body, otherwise I might have enjoyed watching those people die, instead of stepping in to protect them.- Ryou shivered. -Now get up. I have plans for today, host.-

After that, Ryou was certainly not up to getting ready for a day on the town, but the fear of the evil spirit inside his head got him moving.

About a half hour later, Ryou was just finishing buttoning up his shirt when a flame appeared out of thin air. It burned for a second, and then a feather and a letter fell out of it. Ryou yelped and jumped back, looking desperately for a fire extinguisher. The spirit phased out and approached the letter, ignoring his light's distress.

"Interesting, Host. Look at this magic. Come, open it." The spirit said aloud. His transparent body could not pick up solid objects.

"No! It could be dangerous!"

"Do you think I would let you do anything that would put the body in harm's way? Now do as I say!"

Ryou approached slowly. He was afraid of the letter, but he was even more afraid of the evil spirit. He tentatively bent over the desk where the letter and feather had landed. He picked up the feather. It was beautiful! Red, and gold, and over a foot long.

It must have come from _some_ bird, Ryou thought.

He admired it for a moment, and used the moment of peace to gather up his courage. He finally set it aside and picked up the letter. With trembling hands, Ryou opened it.

_Dear Mr. Bakura,_

_My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore. I believe that I may have some information regarding the attack on you last night. __I want to make it clear that I mean you no harm. It seems as though we have a common enemy. __It is too dangerous to explain here, in case this letter is intercepted: if you would like to speak to me in person, simply light a fire at your earlier convenience. _

_Cheers, _

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Order of Merlin, First Class_

Ryou reread the letter once, twice, and finally a third time. Was it just him, or did that not make one lick of sense? He was about to throw the letter in the trash, when the Spirit spoke up.

"Light a fire, host."

"No! That will just be granting him permission to do… well, to do whatever he's planning!" Ryou stared incuriously at the transparent projection of the crazy spirit that inhabits his body.

"Host, I will deal with anything that threatens us. Now do as I say before I lock you in your soul room."

Ryou wanted to cry. As he crouched down to kindle a fire, he thought of how much he hated the spirit. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't he have gotten a spirit like Yugi's yami? He envied their partnership. Ryou's yami always pushed him into doing undesirable, and dangerous things. Yugi and Yami were equals. They were partners. Neither one of them threatened or bullied the other into submitting to their will.

Ryou struck the match, and lowered it to the newspaper. A tiny flame caught. He could have swore that it flickered green, but that must have been his imagination.

The spirit disappeared into the ring, ready to defend the body should something attack.

Ryou backed away, far away. He backed up until he hit the wall and could go no further. With his back pressed against the wall, he waited with bated breath.

After a minute, when Ryou started to think that someone had played some sort of practical joke on him, the fire caught with a WHOOSH and starting blazing an emerald green.

A very old, tall man, with very long silver hair and a very long silver beard stepped out of the fire. He lifted his beard so it wouldn't light, and he looked up at Ryou.

"Good morning Mr. Bakura. My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore."

**xxx**

**I hate the groundwork of books. It's so boring. I'm trying to fly through it as fast as possible. I hate reading it, and I certainly hate writing it. I can't wait until we get to Hogwarts and everyone gets together!**

**Can anyone tell me if it's Malik or Marik? All of the different fics I've read say different. And I don't want to go back and rewatch that whole section of the series just to find out his proper name.**

**Also, do we want Kaiba at Hogwarts? Right now I have Ryou, Yugi, and Malik down to go. But I can't decide about Kaiba. He won't play a huge role, but I want your guys' opinions because I'm personally not a big fan of him.**

**Anyways, please review review review! I don't have to work this weekend, so I should have the next chapter up soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I'd like to thank all who reviewed, it actually made my day.**

**I promise that things will really start rolling either in the next chapter or the one after. Like I said, I hate the groundwork as much as you do. Also, I try to keep the Voldemort scenes to a minimum, because they bores the crap out of me and I usually skim over it when I'm reading other fanfics.**

**So, I've decided, that for the whole Malik/Marik thing, I'm going to go with calling him Malik, and his evil personality Marik. I got mixed reviews, and in my mind I 've always called him Malik. Let me know if their names are too close and get too confusing, and I'll consider changing them in the future.**

**Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but Ryou = hikari, Bakura = evil spirit. Obviously Bakura is still Ryou's family name, but I needed to give the spirit a name for later on in the story. At this point I mostly refer to him as the spirit, but that will change.**

******-**_blah_**- = speaking through mind link. (note that the yamis can phase out and speak like normal human beings, and witches and wizards can see and hear them when they phase out) (also note that Malik/Marik cannot communicate with each other)**

******I had just finished typing that I had forgotten something when I remembered! Don't expect long, clever, duels in here. There will be dueling, but I'm not writing them. I hate watching them, I hate reading them, so writing them will be no different. I will simply say that so and so are dueling, and this person won. I _might_ include small tidbits, it I deem them to be important enought to mention. However, if you would like to write a duel for this story, let me know. But I don't plan on having any anytime in the near future, so, unless you really want to, don't bother.**

******Disclaimer: Wouldn't it be nice to own YuGiOh? And/or Harry Potter? Then I could publish this and actually maybe make a ton of money. But, sadly, this isn't possible, so I'm stuck with you guys. (just kidding, love you, please review) anywho, I own nothing.**

******Enjoy!**

******Chapter 3:**

"Good morning, Mr. Bakura. My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore."

Ryou blinked. He must have been dreaming . . . There was NO way that this man had just appeared out of the fire.

-Careful, host. I sense very powerful magic emanating from this man.- In any other situation, Ryou would have been very shocked and maybe a little bit flattered that Bakura was making the effort to warn him. Granted, they did share a body, so it was completely natural for him to have his best interests at heart.

"H-how did you do that?" Ryou asked, but then blushed instantly, realizing that that was kind of rude. There was something about this man that made Ryou want to make a good impression. "I mean . . .I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, sir."

Professor Dumbledore smiled, while his brilliant blue eyes seemed to x-ray Ryou. The spirit stopped Ryou from crossing his arms over his chest defensively. -Do not show weakness.-

"I am regretful that we could not have met under favorable circumstances, however I am delighted to meet you as well. It seems that you have caused quite a stir in Lord Voldemort's plans."

"Lord who?" Ryou asked.

Dumbledore smiled. "Lord Voldemort, Mr. Bakura. May I have a seat?" He gestured to one of those uncomfortable looking hotel chairs. "I'm afraid that this will be a long story."

"Yes, please do." Ryou beckoned for Dumbledore to sit. "Um, I'm sorry . . But what do you mean by 'your world' ?"

"Oh, how rude of me! Mr. Bakura, I am a wizard. My world is the wizarding world. Those people that attacked you were wizards, wizards of the worst sort. They were Lord Voldemort's servants. Their master is very evil, and very powerful. But that is for later. I believe that I will start at the beginning.

"14 years ago, England, both magical and muggle (non-wizards) was ravaged by the Dark Lord, Voldemort. He was held in such fear that most dared not speak his name. They were very, very dark times.

"But, one night, Lord Voldemort's killing spell rebounded. His body was destroyed, but he was not an ordinary human. No, Lord Voldemort did not have enough human left in him to die from a simple Killing Curse. He remained alive, but only just. We believe that he was just bidding his time until a servant could find his soul and create him a new body."

The spirit began listening even more intently. Was this true? Was there a way to create a new body out of this new magic? Could he move on from his host, no longer having to resort to leeching off of him like some common parasite?

Dumbledore continued. "Last spring, Voldemort achieved just that. Lord Voldemort was resurrected. He is now stronger than ever." He frowned, thinking of how Harry's blood now ran through the Dark Lord's veins. "And, to make matters even worse, our Minister for Magic, refuses to acknowledge his return. Most of the wizarding world doesn't believe that the news of his return is true. Our people sit, prime for the Dark Lord's taking."

Dumbledore was silent, looking as if he was pondering something. Ryou hated to interrupt his thoughts, but he was confused. "I'm sorry, Professor. But what does this have to do with me? Why was I attacked?"

"My apologies, Mr. Bakura. Lord Voldemort and his followers are prejudiced. They firmly believe that magic, and the process of educating young witches and wizards, should be exclusive to strictly those of the purest blood. They also believe that anyone without magic are far beneath them. That is, to say, they wish the world to be rid of muggles and wizards born of muggles. This comes back to the attack that you witnessed. I doubt that were specifically after you. I believe that this attack was a random act of terrorism on muggles, not unlike the old days. Voldemort's followers expected to find a street full of defenseless muggles to kill and torment, but what they found, was you."

Ryou gulped. This did not sound very good, and it certainly was not the story that he was expecting to hear. He certainly did not like where this was going. "Me?"

"Yes. I'm afraid that one cowardly servant escaped with his life," (-Damn-, thought Bakura) "And naturally he has reported what he witnessed of his power to his master. My informant tells me, and I am sorry to say, that Lord Voldemort wants your power for himself."

Ryou couldn't move. He didn't breathe, or blink.

"You are in extreme danger Mr. Bakura. I do not wish to pry, and I understand if you have any reservations about sharing any information. But I need to know if there are any others who share your powers."

Ryou thought of Yugi and Malik. His friends. While he held the Millennium Ring and Eye, Yugi held the Puzzle and Necklace, and Malik held the Rod and the Scales. Shadi still held the Ankh. Ryou knew that Shadi can take care of himself, and he couldn't help him if he tried. Shadi had his own agenda, and Ryou didn't want to be a part of it. He decided not to mention him.

"Yes. There are 2 more of us. Their names are Yugi Muto and Malik Ishtar. The both live in Domino city, Japan. But, Professor, I think that we are capable of taking care of ourselves…"

"I have no doubt in my mind that you three are very powerful. But truth be told, you only took on some of Voldemort's less powerful servants. His true followers are all locked away, and Lord Voldemort himself is more powerful than I'm sure even you can imagine. I would feel more comfortable if I knew that you three were under the protection of myself and my staff.

The spirit was offended at this man's assumption that they could not take care of themselves. "You and your staff? How do you plan on keeping us safe?" Ryou asked.

Dumbledore smiled. He pulled an envelope out of his robes, and held it out to Ryou, who opened it, confused.

_Dear Mr. Bakura, _

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. . ._

"A school of MAGIC?" Ryou gasped. This was his dream come true. He didn't care that the spirit thought that they didn't need protection, Ryou had to attend.

"Yes, Mr. Bakura. The teachers and many students of Hogwarts will do everything to ensure your safety. We can disguise you three as students and you will receive the double benefits of safety, and an education in magic. You would join our current 5th year class."

This had to be some kind of mistake. Ryou wasn't a wizard. He didn't have any powers, it was the spirit who controlled the ring. Not him.

"B-but I'm not a wizard…"

"No, Mr. Bakura. But you must summon the powers you do have from a source of power, and my instincts are telling me that this same source can, in fact, be capable of allowing you to control a wand like any other wizard. You can, in fact, fake being a wizard." Dumbledore held out his wand. "Take this, and give it a wave. It will tell us if my instincts are correct."

Hesitantly, Ryou took Dumbledore's wand. He waved it. Both Ryou and Bakura felt a jolt of power from the Ring, and red and gold sparks flew out of the tip of the wand. It shocked him and caused him to drop the wand in fright. He looked at Dumbledore. "I did it!"

"Excellent! Now," The wand zoomed back to Dumbledore's hand by some invisible magnetic force (which cause Ryou to gape). "I do not expect you to make your decision now. You may contact Mr. Muto and Mr. Ishtar, and discuss it with them if you wish. When you have decided, you can contact me by attaching a note to this feather." He held up the red and gold feather that Ryou had admired earlier. "I shall send them acceptance letters. But I trust you will inform them of the sensitive nature of your predicament?" Dumbledore rose. "Oh, and I ask that you keep this a secret from all but your immediate families. You may tell your friends that. Our kind does like to live in the Shadows, you know." He winked, and, with a whoosh of green flames, Professor Dumbledore disappeared.

**xxx**

_Meanwhile, back in Japan…_

Yugi Muto was, as usual, laying on his bedroom floor, his duel deck sprawled out all around him. He was on his stomach, his arms propped up, with his chin resting in his hands. Of course, he was examining his cards with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

The transparent form of his phased out Yami was laying on the bed, gazing at the Millennium Puzzle. Something was up, he could sense it. There was no definite power shift, but there was definitely a ripple in the, until recently, calm surface of the Shadows.

Yugi, feeling the worried vibes coming from his other half, stood up. "Yami?" No answer. "What's wrong?" But it still seemed that Yami was too immersed in his thoughts to realize that Yugi was trying to talk to him. Yugi prodded Yami through the mind link, and this, finally, got his attention.

Yami looked up, and sighed. "I am sorry, aibou. . ."

"What's wrong?"

"I can sense a disturbance in the Shadows. It is not particularly strong as of yet, however, someone, or _something_ is definitely meddling in things that they should not be."

"Bakura? Marik?" Yugi asked, referring to the darker halves of the other Millennium Item holders.

"No. I don't think so. This is something different than we have ever faced before." Yami sat up, and scooted to sit on the edge of the bed, making room for Yugi, who looked like he needed to sit down.

"Uh-oh." Was all that the smaller boy could manage. Yugi felt that their luck could only stretch so far. You could only fight your way past so many enemies before somebody got hurt. And it seemed that the two of them have face a lot of enemies. It was only a matter of time before their luck ran out.

Waves of worry floated over the mind link, and Yami felt guilty for causing his hikari to worry so much. -I am sure it is nothing that we cannot handle, aibou.-

"Yes, but-" Yugi never finished his sentence, as there was a very loud crash. An owl had flown straight through the skylight, and crash landed on the desk, knocking over several things in the process. Yugi jumped up, worried about the poor owl, but it popped up and hooted proudly, sticking out a leg, to which was attached an envelope.

Yami stood next to his light, and they shared a look of disbelief. Yugi made a move to take the letter from the owl's leg, but the phone rang. He automatically answered it, not taking his eyes off of the owl.

"Hello?"

"Yugi? It's Ryou. Listen, this is impor-"

"Ryou? Hey! How's England?"

"Is Yami listening? This is important!"

Yugi frowned. It was not at all like Ryou to be so rude. Something must be up. Could this have anything to do with the disturbance that Yami sensed? Yugi beckoned Yami to phase back into the puzzle so that they could both listen to Ryou.

"Yes, he's listening. What's the matter?"

"Look, I was attacked. By wizards. Real wizards, Yugi! But they were dark wizards, and now they're afte-"

Yami took over. "Dark wizards? Are you alright? What did the spirit do?"

Said spirit was not impressed that his royal highness would not listen to what had happened. "Will you two can it and stop interrupting?" He snapped through Ryou, who he immediately returned control of the body to.

"Sorry about him. But yes, there's this whole other wizarding world, and a Dark Lord. When they attacked, the spirit fought them, but they saw the Millennium Ring's power, and now they're after us!"

"What kind of magic do they wield?" Yami asked.

"Wands. They were firing spells. They were attacking on behalf of their master, Lord Voldemort. But the spirit took them out with Obelisk. It's a good thing that you gave him to me." Awhile back, Yugi had given Ryou Obelisk, and Malik Ra. He believed that all of the Millennium Item wielders should have a God Card for defensive purposes. It was also a sign of their newfound friendship.

"So how did they find out about us?"

"One escaped. Professor Dumbledore said that he's only after me specifically, but you and Malik should come to Hogwarts with me for safety."

"Where? Who?"

Ryou proceeded to tell them about Dumbledore's visit, and told them everything about Lord Voldemort.

After his initial shock, Yugi smiled. -This must be a dream come true for Ryou. He has always loved the idea of sorcery.- He told Yami, who mentally agreed.

Just as Yugi and Yami had exhausted their seemingly endless supply of questions, the owl hooted. Yami looked at it, head tilted curiously.

-Yami, do you think …? - Yugi asked his dark.

"Hold on, Ryou." Yami said, and set the phone down. He gently removed the letter from the owl's leg. It was a Hogwarts acceptance letter. They read it, and mentally agreed that they would have to discuss this with their friends and Grandpa. Yami picked up the phone.

"We will have to discuss it with everyone. Are you going to go?"

"Absolutely! The spirit even thinks that it could be beneficial, and we never agree." Ryou gushed. "Anyways, I have to call Malik and warn him. I'll call you later for your answer. Oh, and guys? Watch your backs." With that, he hung up.

-What do you think, aibou?-

They invited Jounouchi, Anzu and Honda over, and discussed it long into the night with them Grampa. Yugi's friends were not pleased that he was going on a new, possibly dangerous adventure without them, but they eventually agreed that it was the safest course of action for him. However, Yugi was still skeptical.

But, in the end, the King of Games could not resist the chance to take on a new challenge, and they agreed to go.

**xxx**

"Come on, baby, come on…" Malik Ishtar urged the old Harley that he was trying to bring back to life. He had been working on it for weeks, and he thought he was done, but the damned engine kept sputtering out.

He was going to try one last time, because he didn't want to flood the engine. "Oh, Ra help me…" He begged, before slowly starting the ignition. The most beautiful noise that he had ever heard purred from the engine, which had caught.

"YES!" He yelled, jumping into the air and grabbing his helmet.

"Well done, brother," Rishid, who had been watching, unnoticed, from the door, said. He was very pleased that his adopted brother had found something to do that didn't involve the Millennium items.

"Thanks! I'm gonna take this baby for a ride, don't wait up!" The smaller Egyptian called, snapping his helmet into place and hopping on his bike. He zoomed into the busy Domino traffic. Rishid shook his head, smiling. He had missed his fun loving little brother.

Itching to reach some open highway, where he could _really_ put the pedal to the metal, Malik swerved through stopped cars. Traffic jams were no problem for his sleek motorcycle, which could slip through them like air. It seemed that his reckless driving and arrogant demeanor pissed off some drivers, who angrily honked and flipped him off as he zoomed by.

"See ya, suckers!" He called, pulling into the exit lane and finally, finally merging onto the highway. The smile on his face was got bigger with every mile he drove. 'This is the life,' He thought, 'Just me, my bike, and wide open highway.' Malik felt an angry pulse from Marik, his darker half, who seemed mad that he wasn't part of this equation. But Malik determinedly ignored him. Marik couldn't hurt him anymore. He was bound in the very back of Malik's mind, and could no longer take control of him. Marik couldn't even communicate with Malik. The only times that Malik could feel him was when he was feeling a particularly strong emotion, such as the rage he felt now. Marik was not pleased that Malik could exist happily without him.

In an attempt to leave his past, and Marik, behind, Malik put on an extra burst of speed, pushing his bike to it's limits. Marik couldn't hurt him anymore. The only way that he could get out was if Malik let him go. And that would never, ever happen.

Malik pulled over when he saw a field of wild flowers. He decided to surprise his sister by gathering her a bouquet. He spent about a quarter of an hour picking out only the best flowers for Isis, and arranged them into a beautiful bouquet. Malik set them in the storage compartment behind his seat, and began his journey home.

About half an hour later, he pulled back into his garage. He left his mess to clean up tomorrow (He was a procrastinator of the worst sort) and took Isis' flowers to the kitchen, where he set them in a vase with water. He then grabbed a can of soda from the fridge, and popped it open.

It promptly exploded all over the place.

"FUahhhhhhhhhhhhudge" He exclaimed, changing his mind about cursing upon seeing his sister walk into the room. He jumped in front of the flowers, to hide them from view.

"Malik! Can't you go two minutes without making a mess? Look what you did! And don't think that I haven't seen the state of the garage!" She reprimanded. It was her who had taken in her little brother after the horrific events of Battle City. Together, with Rishid, they were a family. They had no one else.

"Sorry," He smiled sheepishly. "Does this help?" He asked, holding the flowers that he had been hiding behind his back.

Isis' face melted into a smile. She could not stay mad at him. She had missed the sweet boy that her baby brother used to be. The evil of Marik had taken away his innocence, and it was only now, that he had been living with his sister and brother away from the evil influence of his darker half that he had regained his old charm.

"Malik! Stop trying to kiss up. You're just trying to distract me." She laughed, as he pulled a mock hurt face.

"I'm appalled! I would never." His hurt face shifted into an evil grin. "Is it working?" He handed her the bouquet and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'll clean this up, and I'll do the garage in the morning, alright? Go, I think jeopardy's on. I know how much you love it," Malik teased, dodging the towel that she had snapped at him.

He proceeded to clean up the mess of soda that he had made, and Isis, shaking her head, and turned to walk out, muttering about her crazy family. "Oh! I almost forgot, Ryou called. I told him that you'd call him back when you got home. He said that it was important." With that, she left, presumably to go watch jeopardy,

Malik furrowed his eyebrows. Ryou? Calling him from England? Nothing good could come out of this. He hurried to finished cleaning up the mess, and dialed Ryou's number.

"Malik? Is that you?" Came Ryou's frantic voice.

"Yeah, Ryou. What's up?"

"You're in danger, Malik. I was attacked. By wizards." Ryou proceeded to tell Malik all about the attack and Dumbledore's visit.

"So, let me get this straight, a man-"

"No! Not a man, a _wizard._" Ryou interrupted.

"Okay, whatever," He rolled his eyes. "A _wizard_ wants your powers, and may or may not know about Yugi and I?" Malik was skeptical, "What does Yugi think?"

"He was a little skeptical as well, but I think he's going to go. He said he wanted to talk to his friends first."

"I don't know…" Malik had just found out how to be happy, without any danger, any magic, and without any darker halves. This seemed like a surefire way to be plunged right back into that world. The scars on his back seemed to itch, and he subconsciously scratched them. He didn't want to be exposed to any temptation to release Marik.

"Please, Malik! We can't do this without you!" Although he couldn't see him, Malik knew that Ryou was making his puppy dog eyes. His puppy dog eyes could rival even Yugi's, Ra damned hikaris, Malik thought. The puppy eyes got him every time, and they knew it. Whether he was in the same room, or 1000 miles away, he couldn't say no.

"Fine. But the first sign of trouble, and I am OUT." He sighed. After confirming a few last minute details, he hung up. If Yugi agreed, they were to fly to England to join Ryou as soon as possible.

Distracted, Malik began making something to eat. As he was lost in thought, it took him awhile to realize that there was a tapping coming from… somewhere.

Confused, he looked around, trying to identify the source of it. He finally noticed an owl at his window. There was an envelope tied to it's leg.

**xxx**

Lord Voldemort had sunk to, in what his eyes, was a new low. He was in the presence of a muggle made artifact. He shuddered.

"It's him, my lord." Wormtail bowed, pointing to a photo of a white haired boy in a muggle gaming magazine. A golden ring hung from his neck, with a strange unidentifiable symbol in the centre. "Master, I believe that his power comes from this ring around his neck. And look, these two have similar items." He then pointed at a photo of a small boy with outrageously spiky hair, and a very tanned boy with blonde hair. The photos were all too small to see the symbol on them.

"Find them, Wormtail." Lord Voldemort hissed.

"Yes, my lord."

**No cliffies today. :) **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's up by the end of the weekend, as promised.**

**While I was writing this, I was wondering if I should make the transfers join the quidditch team, and if so, which positions should they play? What do you guys think?**

**Hugs and kisses to all who review! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Finally I included a little bit of action in this chapter, so I won't bother you with my pointless ramblings until after. :)**

**-blah- = hikaris/yamis speaking through mindlink**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! And I took a bit of text from the book here, because I couldn't do it justice on my own. Everything is JKR's in that scene, though.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

**CRRRAAACKK!**

Ellie's head snapped up. What was _that_? It sounded like somebody apparating or disapparating. From her perch on her breezy front porch, Ellie watched a cat streak out from underneath a car, and a loud clattering noise that could only be some very expensive china being broken came from the Dursley's. Was Harry under attack?

Ellie tossed her Divination horoscopes aside, and jumped up, pulling her wand out of her pocket. Who would be apparating into Little Whinging? Ellie ran into the deserted street, aiming for Harry's.

When she got closer, she could see Mr. Dursley attempting to both strangle Harry, and take his wand away at the same time through the window. Ellie sped up. She reached the Dursley's lawn just in time to see Mr. Dursley let go of Harry and jerk back as if he'd been electrocuted.

"Harry!" She called, running to the window and stuffing her wand into her pocket when she saw the look that Mr. Dursley was giving her. His beady eyes first glared at her, and then shifted to the neighbor's houses. His actions reminded Ellie that they most likely had the attention of most of the neighbors looking out of their windows.

"Lovely evening!" Mr. Dursley called, "Did you hear that car backfire just now? Gave Petunia and me quite a turn!" He kept his face plastered in a phony smile, his right eye twitching. He kept 'beaming' at them until the last curious one retreated behind her curtains. His smile vanished instantly, and he rounded on the two of them. "What the devil do you mean by it, boy?"

"You surely can't be accusing him of making that noise?" Ellie asked, and Mr. Dursley looked like he was going to round on her instead, but luckily she was saved by Mrs. Dursley poking her bony head out of the window next to him.

"Why were you lurking under our window?" She demanded Harry.

"Yes! An excellent question. Answer your aunt, boy," Mr. Dursley snarled.

"Listening to the news." Harry replied. The Dursley's didn't seem to accept this answer, as it led to full on row between him and his uncle. Both Ellie and Mrs. Dursley tried to keep them quiet, but they were uncontrollable. The argument ended with Harry calling both of the Dursley's stupid and storming off, dragging Ellie with him.

Instantly brushing off the argument, Ellie asked: "That crack, Harry. You don't suppose…?" She trailed off.

"Yeah, I think that it was someone apparating or disapparating." He replied breathlessly, speeding up. It seemed like he wanted to be as far away from his aunt and uncle as possible. "Do you have your wand on you?" He kept swiveling his head, looking for any potential danger.

"Of course I do, Harry." She was slightly breathless, as she was practically jogging in order for her short legs to keep up with Harry's long and lanky ones. "But, who could it be?"

"I dunno, El. Dobby? He's apparated here before, remember second year? Besides," He slowed a little when he realized Ellie was having trouble keeping up. "If it was anybody dangerous, then they would have attacked us by now. But keep your eyes peeled, anything could happen."

The paranoid pair continued in silence until they reached one of their familiar haunts, the play park. It was cast in shadows, as the sun was slowly beginning to set on Little Whinging.

"I finally got a letter from Ron and Hermione," Harry broke the silence, handing Ellie a very short piece of parchment. He scowled. "Not much of a letter, either. I dunno why they even bothered writing, fat load of help that it was."

Ellie read the letter. Harry was right. There was no substance to the letter, it basically consisted of them telling Harry that it was too dangerous for them to write in case it got intercepted, and they weren't allowed to write back in case the owl was tracked. But Ellie got the message.

"So they're together?" She asked, sitting on the swing, looking hurt that they've been so left out.

"Yep. And it doesn't sound like they're in any hurry to get us out of here."

Ellie was slightly uncomfortable at the use of 'we' in that sentence. Her life on Private Drive wasn't nearly as bad as Harry's. She lived with her family, while Harry had to put up with the Dursleys. While Ellie did not have a particularly great relationship with her family, it was most certainly not a bad one. Ellie did all that she could to help Harry out. She brought him food, hid his homework from the Dursley's, and kept him company as much as she could. However, Ellie had very strict parents. They fit well with the mentality of the rest of Private Drive. They were not ashamed of their daughter's magical abilities, but they were eager to please the very 'influential' Dursley's, so her parents respected their rule of forbidding Harry to go near their house. The Dursley's knew that Harry could retreat there as much as he pleased had they not enforced this rule, and the Milton's were only too happy to oblige.

Ellie felt bad that she lived so well while, just a few doors down, Harry was suffering horribly. But she still tried to cheer him up.

"Oh, come on Harry, Hogwarts starts back up in a few weeks! You'll see them soon enough," She reasoned cautiously. She knew how touchy was ever since Voldemort's return and Cedric's death. "It's not so bad here, you know." Ellie regretted those words as soon as she spoke them,

"Not that bad for YOU," Harry snapped. "You have no reason to complain, you have no clue what I have to deal with." He paused, while Ellie looked down, refusing to meet his eyes. "You don't know what it's like," He finally spat, venomously.

Ellie kept her eyes down, biting her lip, afraid to defend herself in case it set Harry off again. "I'm sorry, Harry," she whispered passively when she was sure he wouldn't bite her head off. They were both silent for a few minutes.

Finally, Harry sighed. "No, I'm sorry El. I shouldn't have snapped: you were only trying to help." He felt bad, Ellie was never anything but nice to him.

Ellie opened her mouth to tell him that it was okay, but she forgot what she was going to say when she saw Harry's face. He was looking at something behind her, and his eyes flashed with something that Ellie didn't like, or recognize. She turned her head around and looked behind her to see a group of very large boys headed their way.

It was Dudley and his gang. Some had bikes, and one was singing a very inappropriate song, to which the others were all laughing at. When Ellie looked back round at Harry, there was a slight hint of anticipation on his face.

"Harry, no." She told him firmly. It was fairly obvious what was running through her friend's mind: he was looking for a fight. They all knew that the gang would make a beeline for Harry. But what only Harry and Ellie knew was that Dudley would be caught between his fear of Harry and his reputation with his cronies.

Harry tried to look innocent. "No what?" He asked.

"You can't go picking a fight with half a dozen muggle boys just so you can let off some steam. I know you're angry, but this isn't the way to deal with it." Ellie didn't know how to deal with her friend lately, because he was always so angry.

But, in the end all of Ellie's efforts were wasted, as one of Dudley's gang spotted them and began elbowing the rest.

"Let's go, Harry!" Ellie pleaded, standing up and pulling on his sleeve. "You know that the ministry is just begging for an excuse to snap your wand."

But once again, Ellie's attempts at keeping the peace was wasted on Harry. He wanted a fight as much as any of the boys present, and nothing was going to stop him.

"Hey, Ellie!" One of them called when they got within earshot. "Why do you hang out with that Potter freak so much? Why don't you come over to my place once and awhile?" The boys all laughed, and one wolf whistled at her. Ellie cringed, but remained silent.

Harry stood up next to her and pushed her behind him, his hand on his wand. He was going to tell the boy who had spoken to Ellie off, but Ellie just tugged on his arm, and whispered, "just walk away, Harry. Please."

"Yeah, Harry," another taunted, "Why don't you listen to your little girlfriend and take a walk? Don't worry, we'll take care of her while you're gone." The gang stupidly nodded and laughed, while the one who spoke was very obviously eyeing Ellie's short clad legs.

"Back off," Harry growled, pushing Ellie even further behind him, "before I make you."

"Oooooooooh," They all chanted, grinning at each other.

Dudley stepped forwards. "Big tough man now, aren't we, Potter?" The gang moved closer, and began spreading out slightly. "But you're not so brave at night, though." He laughed.

"This is night, Diddykins," Harry taunted, using Dudley's mother's pet name for him. "That's what we call it when it goes all dark like this."

"I mean when you're in bed!" Dudley snarled, pointing a threatening finger at Harry.

"What d'you mean, I'm not brave when I'm in bed? What am I supposed to be afraid of, pillows or something?"

Dudley grinned triumphantly. "I heard you last night." The gang had finally closed ranks on them, not that Harry noticed, though Ellie certainly did. She remained quiet, but she stayed by Harry's side. "Talking in your sleep. _Moaning_."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his cocky and defensive manner gone. _Oh no,_ Ellie thought. _Not the Cedric dreams,_ that was the one thing sure to get Harry all riled up_._

"Don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric! Who's Cedric anyways, your boyfriend?"

"I - you're lying." Harry stated, going pale.

"Dad! Help me! Dad, he's going to kill me! Dad? Boo hoo!" Dudley taunted, grinning manically. His friends laughed threateningly from all sides.

From her vantage point behind Harry, Ellie could see his hand tighten on his wand in his pocket.

"Shut up. Shut up Dudley, I'm warning you."

"Come and help me, Dad! Mum, come and help me! He's killed Cedric! Dad, help me! He's going to- DON'T YOU POINT THAT THING AT ME!"

Ellie lunged forward to pull Harry back, but she didn't get far. The two boys who had yelled at her earlier had grabbed her arms, rendering her unable to stop Harry, or to even reach her own wand.

Ellie fought tooth and nail to get away, but the boys were big and she was small. She looked up at the one on her right, and he smiled sickeningly down at her. She stomped on his foot, but this only resulted in him getting angry and twisting her arm painfully. She was so afraid that Harry would cast a spell and get kicked out of Hogwarts, and she could do nothing to stop it. "Harry! Please don't!" she pleaded.

When he realized that there was a hell of a lot of commotion going on behind him, Harry looked back. He was shocked to see Ellie being restrained with a look of pain on her face, but he did not lower his wand from Dudley's throat. "Get your hands off of her!" He cried.

They did not, however they did loosen their holds so Ellie wasn't in so much pain. Dudley tried to use Harry's distraction to run away, but Harry was considerably quicker, and he twisted back to him, and pointed his wand at Dudley's heart.

"Harry!" She begged, still fighting desperately to get free.

"Don't you point that thing at me!" Dudley finally repeated, breathlessly.

"Don't you ever talk about that again," Harry breathed, "Do you understand me?"

"Point that thing some where's else!" Dudley cried.

"I said, do you understand me?"

"Point it somewhere else!"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Harry had finally lost it.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM-" Dudley stopped yelling mid-sentence, and gasped loudly. The boys surrounding Ellie and Harry all stepped back, looking around wildly. Ellie was released, and she then pulled out her own wand.

Suddenly, the warm night that was brightly bathed in moonlight went ice cold and pitch black. It was as if the stars and moon themselves were extinguished, leaving the group of teens in a cloud of their own breath.

Dudley's gang didn't last long. "Let's get out of here!" One of them yelled, and they scattered. The sounds of the boys running away vanished way sooner than they should have. Harry lowered his wand from Dudley's heart, and pointed it instead at the darkness that surrounded them.

Ellie didn't think that it was possible, but it then got even darker and colder. The silence was deafening, as the sound of the three teenager's breathing was the only one.

"What are you d-doing?" Dudley demanded. "Stop it! Stop it right now Potter!" he began to back away.

"I'm not doing anything! Now shut up so that I can listen!" Harry snapped. Dudley started backing even further away.

"Dudley, stay here so we can protect you," Ellie told him kindly. He whimpered, and moved closer to her. "Harry, I think it's dementors." She said to him. "What do you reckon?"

"Yeah, I reckon that you're right. Stay close," Harry replied.

Dudley let out a huge sob. "Wh-what are…" He trailed off as the air got colder, and the dread got worse.

Just then, the sound of raspy, rattling breathing reached their ears. Harry and Ellie saw a tall, dark and hooded figure enter the park. It was quickly gliding towards them. Ellie shuddered as she began to feel the full effects of the dementors. She tried to fight through the despair to find a happy memory.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" They both cried, pointing their wands at it. But neither of their spells worked. Ellie was never able to produce a full-bodied patronus, and Harry was simply out of practice. But neither of that mattered, as they were both left defenseless as a second dementor entered the park. Ellie whipped around to face this one, her back pressed up against Harry's. Dudley collapsed next to them.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" She cried again, this time managing to produce a little bit of silver vapor, but still not nearly enough to protect them. The dementors were almost upon them. Ellie was shaking, but she didn't know if it was her, or if it was because she was pressed against Harry.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" She heard him cry, and he only managed to produce silver vapor as well, granted it was a lot more than what she had produced, but still not enough.

The dementors were now upon them.

Ellie grabbed Harry's left hand with her right, and with their fingers entwined, they both tried again.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_" They both yelled together. A stag burst forwards from Harry's wand, and a large silver shield was produced from Ellie's wand. It was enough to hold her dementor at bay long enough for Harry's stag to finish off the first dementor. Ellie shielded her eyes at the blinding light that the stag was producing, and when she finally looked, the stars were back, and the night had warmed up. She released Harry's hand, and rushed over to Dudley's shivering form.

"Dudley? Are you okay?" She asked, attempting to roll his massive form over. "Harry, come help me!" But Harry didn't have nearly as much sympathy for his cousin, and instead he was standing still, trying to figure out what two dementors were doing in Little Whinging.

As Dudley moaned and began to return to a state of semi-consciousness, they heard a pair of footsteps running towards them. A figure burst out of some of the remaining mist.

"Mrs. Figg?"

**xxx**

Ryou eagerly watched the planes landing in London. It was 6 PM, and Yugi and Malik's plane was due to touch down any minute now. He was eager to both see his friends and to get under whatever magical protection that Dumbledore had set up for them. The spirit was convinced that they were being tailed by one of Dumbledore's men all day, which made him mad, but reassured Ryou. He figured that the spirit could handle any danger that was thrown their way, but he didn't want to take that chance.

-Your little friends had better hurry up host, I am getting impatient.- Said spirit grumbled. Ryou wished he would stop complaining.

-Koe, if you don't like it then go to your soul room. I'd rather not listen to you complaining.- Ryou replied testily, shocking the spirit, and even more so himself. He NEVER spoke like that to anyone, let alone the one that he was most afraid of. But the spirit was so shocked, he complied, but not without a snort aimed in Ryou's direction.

Finally, finally, the big TV screen switched the flight from Domino from 'ON TIME' to 'ARRIVED'. Ryou jumped up, picked up his luggage, and hurried over to the security gate just in time to see his two spiky haired friends emerge, laden down with luggage.

"Yugi!" He called, waving. "Malik! Over here!" He ran to his friends. "You made it here safely!"

"Hey, buddy!" Malik hollered, launching himself and painfully hugging the poor embarrassed boy. Ryou's face burned, and he fought desperately to get away. Malik laughed, released him, and gave him a hard clap on the back. Ryou blushed even harder at the attention that he were getting and rubbed the back of his neck. Yugi laughed at his friends antics.

"We're glad to see that you're here safely as well, Ryou." Yugi said, smiling warmly. Yami agreed. They were both worried that the Dark Lord would have gotten to Ryou before they even arrived in England. "When and where are we meeting the guard?" He asked.

Ryou looked at his watch. "In 10 minutes in the back of the parking lot. So we had better get moving. It's a bit of a walk." The three boys exited the airport, and walked straight into the blazing heat of the heat wave that had settled over England.

"Any idea where this safe house is, Ryou?" Malik asked him after awhile. Growing up in the deserts of Egypt, he was the only one that looked at home in this heat. He was walking normally, while Yugi and Ryou were panting and sweating.

"No," Ryou gasped. He pulled the note out of his pocket, and checked the number of the empty row of parking spaces they were currently stopped at. "But I think that this is us, they should be arriving any minute now."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, than a loud crack exploded around them, and a short, grizzled, and very scarred man popped out of nowhere. He had a bright electric blue eye that was fixed on them. Both of the yami's had taken over, startled at the man's appearance. But before they could do anything, another crack sounded, and another. A tall thin man with thinning red hair appeared, along with a sickly looking man with greying brown hair.

The first man looked them suspiciously. "Bakura? Muto? Ishtar?" He asked them, his normal eye fixed on Bakura, while the magic one looked at the other two respectively.

-This is your guard, aibou?- Yami asked, incredulously. He was pleased. This man did not look like the kindest out there, but there was no doubt that he was tough, and his battle scars more than proved that he was capable of taking care of himself. The other two men, on the other hand, were both very skinny and looked easy to take down in a fight. However, as both Yugi and Yami knew, size could be deceiving. Yami relinquished control to his light.

"Y-yes.." Yugi answered him in heavily accented English. "I am Yugi, this is Ryou, and this is Malik," he introduced himself and his friends.

"I take it that you're our guard?" Bakura said unpleasantly, before giving control to Ryou. He too was satisfied. This weathered man looked more than capable of defending the body, which meant that he could relax.

He grunted. "The name's Moody. This is Weasley, and Lupin. Dumbledore tells me that you three are in need of a safe house." He said. It was not a question.

"Cool eye, Mister Moody!" Malik said, grinning. The man that was introduced as Weasley smiled warmly at him

"Wait until you find out what it does," he told him, winking. "Now, boys, it is impervious that you listen. This is what we call a portkey." He held out a dirty looking old milk jug. "When the time comes, grab hold, and it will transport us to the safe house. Do NOT let go."

Lupin looked at their luggage. "If you will step back, I can take care of your luggage, boys." He told them, pulling out a wand. Yugi and Malik felt a flicker of excitement, they had never seen magic performed before. Lupin flicked his wand at the luggage, and it shrunk small enough to fit in their pockets.

Yugi's eyes widened. Shadow magic couldn't do that! He felt even more excited to go to a magic school to learn how to do things like that, and more.

"Yugi, if that works both ways we can make you taller!" Malik said, giving him a playful shove. Yugi scowled at him, while Mr. Weasley and even Ryou cracked a smile.

"Constant vigilance! Pay attention to your surroundings, otherwise you might find yourselves locked in a trunk for a year!" Moody snapped. "Now, the portkey will activate soon. Everyone grab hold."

The three boys quickly gathered their luggage, and awkwardly hooked a finger onto the milk jug with the three older wizards. Just when Malik was starting to wonder if anything was going to happen, he felt a rough tug somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach. They were being tugged into the air!

After a few moments of violent spinning, they finally slammed into the ground on a street lined with gloomy looking houses.

"Quickly, quickly! Read this and memorize," Mr. Weasley shoved a piece of paper into their hands, that read _The Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place._ "Good?" He asked, and poked the paper with his wand, and it promptly burned into a crisp.

The three boys looked at each other, confused. They knew enough English to read the street sign, which told them that they had the right street. But there was no 12, only a gap between 11 and 13.

-Something's happening.- Yami said to Yugi.

-Look! A house!- Yugi replied, mentally pointing. A house had suddenly appeared where number 12 should have been. And sure enough, when Yugi squinted, he could make out the number 12 on the front.

"Hurry, now, boys," Lupin said. "Before we're seen!"

The three men ushered them inside, which was very dark, and musty smelling.

"Welcome to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, boys." Mr. Weasley said to them, smiling.

**xxx**

**Kind of a bad spot to end it, I know. But I didn't want to introduce them to Ron + Hermione yet, and I didn't know how else to stop it!**

**Anyways, I hope you liked it! Review please my dears! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Not much to say here, other than to remind you of the fact that I (sadly) own nothing here. Not even the small piece of what I do own (Ellie) is in this chapter. But I hope you enjoy it anyways!**

**-blah- = mindlink between hikari/yami**

Chapter 5

"That poor boy! He's practically a muggle, and yet he still had to fight off all of those Death Eaters!" Mrs. Weasley was in a tussle. "Albus was most certainly right to invite him and his friends here and to Hogwarts! They cannot possibly be expected to defend themselves! Oh! This place is filthy!" She exclaimed, pulling a cobweb out of the cupboard she had just opened. "What will they think?" She was in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, making a welcoming feast for the three boys that were coming that evening.

Ron rolled his eyes at his mother. "Mum! Don't worry, they'll be here any minute. Dad, and Professors Moody and Lupin will keep them safe. And for Merlin's sake, don't smother them when they get here! They won't judge _us_ if it's dirty. It's not _our_ house." Mrs. Weasley had been a nervous wreck all day, cleaning, baking, and snapping at anybody who got in her way. "Where's Kreacher anyways? I swear, that elf is completely useless…" Ron trailed off when he saw the look Hermione was giving him.

Luckily, Ron had avoided a SPEW lecture in favor of her defending his mother. "I think that it's sweet that your mother is trying so hard to make them feel welcome. They are coming all the way from Japan, after all." She nudged Ron's slouching form off of the table, and slid a place setting in his place. Mrs. Weasley gave her a thankful smile.

"I'm just saying." Ron said, his ears turning red at his mother and Hermione ganging up on him. _Girls._ "Besides, they must be super powerful for You-know-who to want them that badly. That Ryou guy couldn't have pulled his little monster friend from out of his…oops." His ears went even redder at his blunder.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed, whipping around and brandishing her spatula in the air threateningly. "You kids have been eavesdropping again, haven't you?" Ron shook his head violently, but his mother wasn't convinced. "GINEVRA! FRED! GEORGE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!"

Hermione tried to back out of the door, but Fred and George were just coming in it, and they pushed her back into the kitchen. "Not this time, Hermione. You have to face her just like the rest of us!" Said George.

"Where's that Gryffindor courage?" Whispered Fred. Ginny sheepishly walked in through the other door.

When she saw the situation, she instantly realized why they were all in trouble. "Ron! You prat! Now look what you've done!"

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU FIVE? YOU CANNOT JOIN THE ORDER UNTIL YOU ARE OUT OF SCHOOL!" She pulled out her wand, and bellowed: "Accio! Accio! Accio extendable ears! Accio!" Ears began flying at her from all sorts of unlikely places, from the ceiling tiles, underneath the stove, and the moldy drapes covering the windows in the dank kitchen.

"Mum! You can't!" Fred protested.

"We worked ages on them!" George finished, trying in vain to catch the ears flying out of his and his twin's clothing. "You can't take them!"

"I can and I will! You kids will be the death of me! Upstairs! Now!" When they didn't move, Mrs. Weasley waved her wand at the pots and pans sitting on the counter, which promptly chased them out the door. "Out!"

Grumbling, the five of them trudged up the stairs, and settled into Ron's room.

"I'm sorry I got all of your ears taken away…" He told Fred and George, looking at the floor. His face was burning a bright red, clashing horribly with his hair.

"No worries, dear little Ronnie-kins," Fred grinned.

"We've got a second stash charmed so that Mum can't summon them," George finished gleefully.

"You can cast an anti summoning charm?" Hermione asked doubtfully. "That's really advanced and complicated magic."

"Ah, my dear Hermione," Fred put his arm around her. "We're very complicated guys."

"You'd be surprised at what we can do." George came over and sat on her other side, but Hermione pushed them off and went to stand next to Ginny, who looked lost in thought.

"What else do you guys reckon that these guys powers can do?" She asked. They had 'overheard' the order talking about the attack, and how Ryou summoned a huge monster that wiped out 12 death eaters, but none of them believed that this was all that these boys could do.

None of them had any serious suggestions, but they had fun speculating some pretty ridiculous ideas for the next little while. Eventually Fred and George apparated to their rooms, muttering about taking inventory now that half of their stash had been confiscated by their mother.

With the loudest two of the group gone, the mood of the room changed dramatically.

Hermione sighed. "I wish that Harry and Ellie were here. They know the most about You-know-who," She said, "they might have some sort of idea what's going on with the three transfers, and what other kind of powers that they might have. I just hope that they're okay, Harry's never really handled dementors well…"

"Well, of course he hasn't," Ginny snapped in Harry's defense. "It's not as though he's had it easy…"

"All I'm saying is that they might be able to figure out what's going on, what we can't. And it's not as if we can ask the transfers what their powers are." Hermione was referring to the fact that Dumbledore had made them swear that they wouldn't ask about their powers.

"Yeah, I don't know what he's playing at!" Ron agreed. "If you-know-who gets hold of this 'power' then Harry will be in serious trouble! We have a right to know what he's up against!"

"Ronald, if anyone has a right to know then it's Harry." Ginny rolled her eyes.

_**CRACK! CRACK! **_

The twins had apparated in.

"Guys."

"They're here!"

"Must you two apparate EVERYWHERE?" Ron snapped, but rushed to the landing with everyone else.

Their mother's voice drifting up the stairs ruined everything for them. "You kids stay in your rooms for now!" She called, "You don't want to scare the poor boys off!"

"Fat chance," whispered the twins together. They began unraveling several extendable ears to go round. The five of them grinned at each other.

**XXX**

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, boys." Moody repeated. "We're The Dark Lord's official resistance army."

"Oh, Arthur! You made it back safely!" A kindly woman with red hair embraced Mr. Weasley, who could only be her husband. "Oh, boys! You must be starving! Follow me dears, and we'll fix you right up! My name is Molly, Molly Weasley." She gave them all a warm smile, which couldn't help but calm their nerves, and they all smiled back. Mrs. Weasley turned and promptly walked into an assortment of long, flesh colored cords dangling from somewhere high above. They hastily began rising, but not before Mrs. Weasley could grab them. "RONALD! FRED! GEORGE! GINEVRA! HERMIONE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" A collective sigh came from above as Mrs. Weasley wrestled all of the fleshy things away from whoever was holding them. "Honestly," she shook her head, then seemed to remember her guests. "Come along then, dears. Right this way."

Yugi, Malik, and Ryou all shared a confused look. Not even those possessed by ancient evil spirits could experience such extreme changes in personality so quickly. As they followed Mrs. Weasley, they could hear footsteps coming down the stairs behind them.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Yugi said to her politely, with his heavy accent. "We do very much appreciate what you're doing for us."

"It's no trouble dears," She smiled at him. "Now come along, boys. Dinner is getting cold."

Mrs. Weasley led them through a series of gloomy hallways, until they reached the kitchen, which was just as gloomy as the rest of the house, albeit a tiny bit cleaner. It was filled with a number of people sitting at a long table, talking and laughing.

They all stopped when the party walked in, though. Lots of faces, some friendly, some curious, and some suspicious inspected them.

"Ah, everyone's here! Good." Mr. Weasley walked to the front of the group, clapping his hands together. "These are the transfers Dumbledore told us about! Malik Ishtar, Yugi Muto, and Ryou Bakura." Ryou blushed as the attention of the room was switched to him. Mrs. Weasley ushered them forwards. "Come on boys, don't be shy! Have a seat, have a seat!"

As they settled in at the table, the door once again opened and in walked 5 people around their age, 4 of which had flaming red hair. Yami mentally smiled. -They must be Weasleys as well.-

"Whoa!"

"Cool hair!" Two boys, who had to be twins, exclaimed, pointing at Yugi, and doing a double take when their eyes reached Malik and Ryou. "Wait, you're not a Malfoy, are you?" One of them asked Ryou, referring to his pure white hair.

"Um, no? I don't think so…" He quietly answered.

"George! Don't be so rude to our guest! Of course he isn't a Malfoy!" Chastised his mother.

"I'm not George, I'm Fred!" He complained, taking a seat near the three boys.

"And I'm George! Merlin, you call yourself our mother!"

Mrs. Weasley sighed, exasperated, yet a twinkle of amusement colored her features. "Sorry, Fred."

"What about me? You think I like being mistaken with this ugly twat?" He demanded, clapping his identical brother on the back. The transfers were laughing, enjoying the tension and awkwardness fading.

"Sorry George." She rolled her eyes, and began passing plates round to everyone.

As the two girls, and the final redhead joined the table, the twins looked at each other and grinned. "Oh, we're only joking, Mum. I really am George." One of them said, and the room roared with laughter. Smiling, Yugi and the other transfers tucked in. The food was delicious.

-You know, I could grow to like this crowd!- Yugi said to Yami. -The food is delicious, and those twins remind me of Jounouchi and Honda.-

A whirlwind of introductions were thrown the transfer's way. The dirty house belonged to a very thin, haggard, yet still handsome man named Sirius, who was sitting and laughing next to Lupin. A small and squeaky man named Dedalus Diggle smiled at them, a smelly man next to him was introduced as Dung, another Weasley with an earring was named Bill, and a loud woman with bright pink hair laughed and shook their hands, telling them to call her Tonks.

The youngest five sitting around them then introduced themselves. The twins officially introduced themselves as Fred and George, but Yugi instantly forgot which was which (and didn't really believe them anyways). The pretty redheaded girl was named Ginny.

Then the final redhead turned to them, and smiled crookedly. "I'm Ron." He pointed a food laden fork at Yugi. "Is your hair natural, uh…" He trailed off , realizing he didn't know who was who.

Before Yugi could tell him his name, the bushy haired brunette interrupted him. "Honestly, Ronald! You can be so rude sometimes!" She shook her head exasperatedly. "My name is Hermione."

Yugi smiled at them. "Yes, it is natural. And it is a pleasure to meet you all." He tried to make his English as least accented as possible. "My name is Yugi Muto, and these are my friends-"

"I'm Malik Ishtar!" Malik said, with his Arabic accent. He grabbed everyone's hands and shook them hard, grinning widely. "And this is Ryou, Ryou Bakura."

"Hello," Ryou smiled pleasantly. He spoke in a perfect English accent. "It is nice to meet you all."

"You're the one who took down all of those death eaters then! Wow!" This time, Hermione didn't even try to reign in Ron's enthusiasm and tactlessness. Besides, she wanted to hear the story first hand just as much as he did.

But before the flabbergasted Ryou could respond, a phoenix feather with a note attached to it appeared and landed on Sirius' empty plate. The table went quiet, and they waited with bated breath to hear what note the Dumbledore had sent them said.

He let out a loud laugh that sounded vaguely like a bark. "Ladies and gentlemen! Can I have your attention please!" He called, standing up with a huge grin on his face. "I have just received good news." The table burst into excited whispers.

"All right, everyone, keep your knickers on," Called Fred. Everyone laughed, then shut up.

"Thank you Fred. The mission tomorrow night is a go! We're bringing Ellie and Harry home!" Everyone burst into loud cheering, the loudest of which were coming from Ron and Hermione.

Ryou, Malik and Yugi shared confused looks, while everyone began yelling happily to be heard over everyone else. Who were Harry and Ellie, and why did they have everybody so excited?

Then the adults began discussing who and what they needed to safely pick them up and bring them here. Why did they need such a big security detail?

Malik leaned in to the happily gushing Ron and Hermione. "Who are Ellie and Harry?" He asked. "And why do they need so much security?"

Ron grinned. "They're our best mates! Also, Harry is the Boy Who Lived!" He laughed. " You didn't think that you were you-know-who's first priority, did you?"

"The Boy Who Lived?" Ryou asked.

Hermione joined in. "Harry's been a target for years. You've heard the story of Voldemort's downfall 14 years ago?" They all nodded. "Well, it was Harry. Voldemort came after his family when he was just a baby. Nobody knows why. When he tried to kill Harry, the curse backfired and destroyed Voldemort. Harry's parents died trying to save him, which gave him a protection that even Voldemort couldn't take on."

They all sat stunned for a moment. Even Bakura, who had tuned in when the food was served, remained silent in Ryou's head.

"Wait," Ryou began. "Let me get this straight, he took Voldemort down when he was just a baby?"

Ron nodded, "Then the ministry rounded up most of his remaining followers. Harry became an instant legend. Imagine, a baby bringing down the guy who'd been terrifying the wizarding world for years!"

"So why isn't he here now? Isn't this supposed to be the safest place?" Malik asked.

"Yes, but he lives with his aunt and uncle. Muggles. Horrible ones," Hermione said with a shudder. "The protection from Harry's mother keeps him hidden, as long as he remains with a blood relative. Ellie just lives down the street. She's been Harry's friend ever since they were kids. So they'll be picking her up as well."

All three of the transfers were amazed. This magic was completely different from that of which they all wielded. They thought that they had the whole magic thing mastered, but it turns out that there was still so much to learn.

Mrs. Weasley appeared out of nowhere and clapped her hands on Fred and Ginny's shoulders. "Come on dears, bedtime. I want you all up bright and early so we can get an early start on cleaning the library tomorrow." She smiled at the transfers. "We don't like living in filth, the house elf here has been alone for years and doesn't know better." Hermione scowled, while the transfers were super confused, but didn't ask what a house elf was. "Between all of us, we might be able to finish it before Harry and Ellie arrive. I expect that they'll be exhausted, poor dears, they're in for a long trip. Alastor is worried that using another portkey in will be traced, so they have to take the old fashioned way in."

"What's the old fashioned way?" Malik asked eagerly. Yugi smiled. He had always had an interest for fancy methods of transportation.

Mrs. Weasley gave him a weird look. "Well, they'll be flying of course. Bed! Now!"

As they all began their trek up the stairs, Malik looked back at Hermione, his face looking slightly crestfallen. "They're just taking a plane here? I expected something, more… I don't know, magical?"

Hermione laughed. "No, Malik. They're not taking a plane." Yugi and Ryou stopped to listen. "They're taking flying broomsticks here."

Even the evil sprit's jaw hit the floor.

**And there you go. Hope you liked it! Once again, I know that these chapters are short, but I've been tied up with so much grad stuff and I had a half written chapter that was just sitting there and killing me. Besides, next week is exam week, so I may or may not be able to post the next chapter. I guess it'll be a suprise? :)**

**Anyways, please review! Hugs and kisses!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! I guess that I overestimated how much time I would need to study. I actually only have to write 2 exams, and I have 2 days in between. So I figured I'd treat you all with an update much sooner than expected! I wrote this on my back deck in the sun, Canadian summers are beautiful and I totally recommend you all come and visit me sometime soon. **

**I don't know if it's noticeable, (I think it is) but I tend to rush through the bits that are in the book, or just skip over them altogether. I'm not going to waste my time rewriting what you already know. You understand, right?**

**-blah- - mindlink communication**

**I own nothing! **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6**

For the sixth time in three days, Ellie rang the Dursley's doorbell. After a moment she saw the curtains on the living room window open, and a pair of beady little eyes landed on her. Upon seeing her watching him, Mr. Dursley snapped the curtains shut.

"It's that blasted little girl again, Petunia."

"Well you can't ignore her after she saw you! Answer the door, Vernon! What will her parents think?" She cried, her voice tinged with horror. The Dursley's were terrified of being judged by the prestigous Miltons.

After a bit more whispered conversation that Ellie couldn't quite catch, the door opened revealing Mr. Dursley who was dressed in an expensive looking suit. He had a very very strained smile on his face. "Yes?" He asked.

"Good evening, sir," Ellie said in her polite voice, wearing her most charming smile. "Is Harry home?"

"No, he is not receiving or going out tonight. We are very busy, now go away." He slammed the door in her face, obviously not able to force himself to be nice to her any longer.

"_Vernon! Her parents_!" Petunia hissed.

The door opened once more. "Tell your parents that they are welcome to come over to tea anytime, except tonight. We have been nominated to win the All England Best Suburban Lawn Competition." He had a very smug expression on his face. "Goodnight." He once again slammed the door in her face.

Ellie sighed, and began her short trek home. She hadn't seen Harry since the night of the dementor attack. She and Harry had both received expulsion letters for using magic, then letters saying that they were merely suspended pending a trial. Then an owl had delivered a strange howler telling Mrs. Dursley to "remember my last". Whose and what this last was, Ellie did not know, and she never found out, since at that point Mr. Dursley had lost his temper and physically thrown Ellie out the door.

She felt so bad for Harry. While they were both stuck in the dark, at least Ellie wasn't locked in her room. Poor Harry was grounded by the Dursley's, and under strict orders from Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley to stay in his house. Ellie couldn't imagine being cooped up like that while the threat of expulsion was looming over her. She knew that Harry needed space to let off steam, otherwise he would blow up.

"Elizabeth, where in heaven's name have you been?" Ellie was snapped out of her reverie by the one person who dared to call her by her real name to her face: her mother. It looked as though she had been standing on the front porch, waiting for her to come home.

"I just ran over to Harry's to see if he could talk about the other night." She replied, skirting past her mother and into the house.

"You know that you're not supposed to be wandering the streets alone at night, young lady!" Her mother nagged, following her inside. Diana Milton was a very vain, yet still very pretty woman. Ellie looked very much like her. They shared the same blonde hair, pale skin, and small stature. But their personalities could not have been any more different.

"It's only 7 o'clock, Mother." She protested, her voice slightly more whiney than she intended it to be. Ellie headed into the kitchen for something to eat. "Besides," She continued, "Hasn't the worst already happened? I was attacked _and_ could be expelled." She opened the cupboard, and saw a tray of freshly baked muffins. Her favorite. She ripped off a big chunk and began stuffing her face.

"Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if you stopped going to this silly magic school, dear. You could go to a real school and become a lawyer, just like your father." Diana snatched the half-eaten muffin out of her daughter's hand and threw it in the trash. "Don't eat this junk, Elizabeth. We must watch our waistlines."

Ellie scowled. "They why did you bake them, then?" She decided to ignore the comment about her becoming a lawyer. Both her and her mother were too stubborn to leave that conversation on speaking terms.

"They're for your brother, sweetie. Young men have such higher metabolisms than women. It's really unfair." She simpered, handing her a piece of celery instead.

Ellie eyed it unhappily. "Yeah, it really is unfair," she replied sarcastically, wondering if her mother would notice if a muffin were to 'disappear' later on that night.

"Now, Elizabeth," Mrs. Milton continued, completely missing Ellie's sarcasm. "About that summer calculus course that begins next week-EEEEK!" She was cut off by her own shriek as an owl flew in through the open window. "GET THAT THING OUT OF MY KITCHEN IMMEDIATELY ELIZABETH GRACE MILTON!" The owl gave her a dirty look, offended at being referred to as a 'thing'.

Rather than face the wrath of her mother, Ellie put the untouched celery down, scooped up the owl, and brought it into the garage. She didn't know whether the owl would bring good news, or the notice of her expulsion. She hastily ripped the letter open.

_Ellie,_

_We are picking you up tonight. Be packed and ready to go from Harry's at 9 o'clock, sharp. COME ALONE._

_Best regards,_

_Arthur Weasley_

She blinked, and reread the letter. 9 o'clock! That barely gave her enough time to pack, let alone . . . _Uhoh, _she thought, racing into the kitchen, _Mother_…

"Mother? MA! Where are you? HELLO?" She bellowed, as her mother wasn't there anymore. However, Ellie noticed with a scowl that all the muffins were now gone. She ran down the hall and into the living room, to find her mom serving the last of the muffins to her 17 year old brother, Oliver, and her father, Andrew. "Mother!"

Oliver grinned at her frazzled state. "What's got your knickers in such a bunch, El?" Their mother gave him a nasty look and a slight smack upside the head.

"Elizabeth, it is not proper for a young lady to be bellowing and stomping around. Oh, and stop encouraging her Oliver!" She added, seeing her that her two children had met eyes and started giggling.

Unlike Ellie, Oliver had never gotten a Hogwarts letter. He had gone to private school, and taken the advanced courses that Diana wished that both of her children would take. He didn't give his mother any of this 'magical nonsense' that Ellie forced her to put up to put up with. Mrs. Milton believed that Hogwarts was just a phase that Ellie had yet to grow out of.

Although Oliver and Ellie were siblings, they couldn't have looked any different. They both shared their father's wild and curly hair, however Oliver's was a dark brown. He stood at just over 6' tall, while Ellie was a tiny 5'1, the same as her mother. Oliver was dark skinned and outgoing, while Ellie was fair skinned and generally quiet. However, they both shared their father's kind heart and loyalty. They got along beautifully, which was a lot to say, considering how some siblings treat each other.

"Now, what's the matter, Ellie?" Her father, Andrew asked. He was the sweet man with the wild hair that Ellie took after. Everything about their personalities were alike. Andrew's hair was now grey, but it never lost the curls that both of his children had inherited.

"I have to leave tonight. I received a letter from Mr. Weasley. They need to take us to our hearing, and we need to be put under protection." Everyone in the room knew that the 'we' meant herself and Harry.

"Absolutely not!" Diana said hotly. "Summer is when you spend time with your _family_, and you need to take that calculus course if you are to even be considered for Cambridge!" Ellie had been taking college prep courses each summer to keep up with her muggle education. Her mother was adamant that she got a law degree. What Ellie really wanted was to become a healer.

"Let's hear her out before we say no," Her dad soothed his wife. Mr. Milton always took Ellie's side when her mother was being unfair. Ellie had him wrapped around her finger.

"Mr. Weasley sent me a letter saying that they're coming to get Harry and I tonight. So I need to pack in time for 9! Mother, please," She pleaded. Ellie was going regardless of what her mother said, but it would be preferable to be actually granted permission before she left.

"Come on, Ma," Oliver pleaded with her. "Ellie isn't safe here. We can't protect her as well as her kind can." He was always very protective of his little sister, but he understood that against Lord Voldemort, he was powerless and needed to let her go to keep her safe.

Mrs. Milton knew that she was outnumbered. "Fine. You may go, but I hope that you understand that I am not at all pleased about this. Go pack, and for God's sake, Elizabeth, be careful." She sighed.

"Oh, thank you, thank you Mother!" She cried, launching herself at her mother and giving her a huge hug. Diana Milton's face was graced with one of her rare smiles as her only daughter ran upstairs to pack.

**xxx**

With only fifteen minutes to spare, Ellie walked out her front door, trailing her trunk behind her. Her goodbyes to her family had been bittersweet, as she was sad to leave, yet happy to go. With her mind on her family, it took Ellie a few minutes of walking to realize that the night was strangely dark. She reached into her pocket and clutched her wand, in case dementors were going to attack again.

But no, she thought, it wasn't a dark night, all of the streetlights were just out! _Dumbledore_, she thought, breaking into a sort of half run, slowed down by her immense trunk.

She reached the Dursley's place out of breath, and at the same time as a big group of wizards. Mostly familiar wizards. Ellie's face broke into a huge grin. "Mr. Weasley! Professor Lupin! Professor Moody!" She cried, dropping her trunk and running to give an uncomfortable, yet laughing Remus Lupin a hug.

"Keep your guard up, girl, we could be anybody!" Moody grunted, pulling her away from Lupin and pointing his wand at her. "We can't even be sure that you're really Elizabeth Milton."

"I highly doubt that anybody else would have greeted us as such," Lupin smiled, causing Moody to lower his wand and permit Ellie to give him a hug as well. His mouth twitched in an almost-smile. He quickly pushed her away, only for her to go and give Mr. Weasley a hug. "Now, on to Potter…" He limped up to the Dursley's front door, and pointed his wand at the lock. "_Alohomora_." The door promptly sprang open with a bang. A shrill warning beeping came from their alarm system, prompting for the code.

Moody looked as though he was ready to blast the little white box with his wand, and Mr. Weasley looked positively delighted at this new bit of technology that he had yet to discover. Ellie pushed forwards, and put in the code (Dudley's birthday) before it timed out and called the cops. The beeping stopped.

"What was that?" Mr. Weasley excitedly asked.

"Alarm system. If you open the door and don't put the code in within 30 seconds, it calls the authorities," Ellie told him.

"Simply amazing! These muggles come up with the most _clever_ substitutes for magic!" He stayed back to examine the box while Ellie led the rest of the crowd to the kitchen, where she promptly grabbed one of Mrs. Dursley's freshly baked muffins.

At that exact moment Harry came bounding down the stairs, wand first. His face took on an expression of shock when he saw the crowd of wizards standing in his kitchen. Ellie soon realized that he must not have been informed that they were coming tonight. After explanations and introductions were made, Harry went upstairs with Tonks to pack his trunk. Ellie remained in the kitchen to explain to the wizards how the simplest of muggle objects worked.

"So, you just put something in, and it heats it up?" Mr. Weasley asked, bent double and checking out the microwave from 3 inches away.

"Yeah, look," Ellie put what was left of her muffin in the microwave, closed the door and hitting the start button. 10 seconds later it beeped, she popped open the door, and the smell of her muffin immediately wafted throughout the kitchen. The wizards all murmured to each other, wondering how the muggles had made this technology.

"Brilliant!" Mr. Weasley said, "How does it work?"

"Er," Ellie really did not want to get into nuclear technology with an overenthusiastic Mr. Weasley. She was glad when Harry and Tonks came down the stairs, levitating Harry's trunk in front of them.

"Have you two got your broomsticks ready?" Moody asked. Harry dug out his Firebolt, and Ellie rummaged through her trunk for her Nimbus 2002. Even though her mother disapproved of anything magical or unladylike, (especially her playing on the Quidditch team) her father made sure his little girl had the best of everything. Besides, Ellie couldn't let herself be outdone by the Slytherins.

"Where are we going?" Ellie asked Tonks, but was answered by an eavesdropping Moody.

"You'll see when we get there!" He growled. "Don't talk about it here," He warned Tonks, who looked like she was on the verge of whispering to Ellie behind Moody's back. "We could be overheard."

Tonks scowled, "You're too paranoid, Madeye."

"Constant vigilance!" He retorted. Ellie and Harry laughed. They left a note for the Dursley's, and 10 minutes later they were soaring through the skies.

Shortly after their takeoff, Ellie was desperately wishing that she had worn a jacket, or at the very least a sweater. The enjoyable and relaxing ride had quickly became a cold and uncomfortable one. Ellie shivered violently in her thin blouse and jeans, and thought darkly of how Moody wanted to fly into the clouds to throw off any possible attackers.

After what felt like hours, they finally began to descend, and 10 minutes later they touched down on a shabby, dirty, run down street. The sign read "Grimmauld Place".

"Good, I don't think that we were followed." Madeye was satisfied. "Here, memorize this you two." He thrust a piece of paper into Harry's hand, and Ellie leaned over to read it too. It read: _The Order of the Phoenix can be found at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, London._

"The Order of the-" Harry began, but was interrupted.

"Shh! Not here boy! Don't any of you listen? We could be overheard!" Moody hissed. "Think about what you just read!" He then set the little slip of paper on fire with the tip of his wand.

Ellie and Harry looked at each other, confusedly, but did as they were told. As soon as Ellie reran the words 'Grimmauld Place' through her head, a house just as dumpy as the ones surrounding it inflated in between Numbers 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place.

"Whoa!" Ellie gasped, taking a step back.

"Quickly! Quickly!" Mr. Weasley said, ushering them inside.

**xxx**

ONE HOUR EARLIER

"Boys," Mrs. Weasley poked her head in the door of the bedroom that Malik, Yugi, and Ryou were sharing. "Professor Dumbledore is in the kitchen, and he'd like to see you." She bustled away as quickly as she had come.

Yami and Bakura both phased out. "He is bound to ask about your powers," Yami said, placing his slightly transparent form in between Yugi and the spirit. Even though they were technically now on the same side, he still did not trust Bakura one bit.

This did not go unnoticed by said evil spirit, who scowled at him. "I am not going to attack your precious hikari, pharaoh," He snarled. It was true. Although they did not get along, the spirit's homicidal tendencies towards the rest of the Millennium Item Holders had decreased considerably.

"Yes, well the past does not speak well of you." Yami retorted.

Yugi and Ryou stepped in. "Come on, you two," Yugi said.

"Now is not the time," Ryou added. Neither yami was very happy, but they did not argue. For now, they had to discuss what they were going to tell Dumbledore.

"Our powers are not public knowledge, but they are hardly a secret," Ryou began. "I think that we can trust Dumbledore."

"I agree," said Malik. "He is taking us in and protecting us, after all. We owe him that much."

"Yes, but only Dumbledore. We don't know who else we can trust." Yugi chimed in. "Yami? What do you think?"

"I trust your judgment, aibou," he nodded.

"Koe?" Ryou asked.

He grunted noncommittally, showing that he did not care either way.

Malik laughed. "Well, I suppose that means that we are all in agreement, then." A slight angry twinge from Marik told him that that not _everyone_ was in agreement, but he ignored it.

Yami and Bakura both returned to their respective items, and the transfers hid the powerful gold items under their clothing, then walked downstairs.

Professor Dumbledore was waiting for them, alone, in the kitchen. Malik was taken aback at his strange appearance. "Good evening, Ryou," He said, standing up. "You two must be Yugi and Malik?"

Malik thought that there was something about this man that caused him to instantly both respect and trust him. "Yes, sir, I am Malik, and this is Yugi."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Yugi told him, bowing in a typical Japanese sign of respect. This told Malik that Professor Dumbledore made the same impression on Yugi that he had on him.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Muto. Now, I beg your pardon at my boldness, but surely you understand that this conversation must be over by the time that Harry and Elizabeth arrive. If you would be so kind to invite your yamis out, Mr. Muto and Bakura."

Malik choked on the breath that he had been inhaling. "H-how did you…" He couldn't finish his sentence, as his body was wracked with coughs.

"Mr. Ishtar, the Millennium Items are not the only tool that one requires to get information." He smiled, his blue eyes seemingly x-raying them. "I implore you three to realize that they are also not the only way to control somebody." Malik shifted uncomfortably. "Now, your friends..?"

Yugi and Ryou exchanged wary looks, but both pulled their items out of their shirtfronts. Yami and Bakura phased out. **(A/N: I think I mentioned it before, but in case you forgot, wizards and witches can see the Yamis when they are phased out.)**

"You had better have an explanation for this, old man!" Bakura growled.

"Ahh, Mr. Bakura, I expect that it was you who truly battled all of those Death Eaters?" Dumbledore ignored his earlier threat.

"Yes, and I could do that same to you, so don't tempt me." He scowled.

"Of course not, Mr. Bakura. I would never dream of exposing your secret until the time that you choose to do so."

"You can see them?" Yugi asked, shocked. Only the Millennium Item holders could see the yamis, or so he had thought.

"Yes, Mr. Muto." Dumbledore smiled. "You will find that you have many things in common with our kind."

"Professor Dumbledore, how can I be sure that my hikari will be safe at Hogwarts?" Yami interrupted, feeling a little like an overprotective mother.

"I promise you that there is no safer place than Hogwarts. As long as you comply with our rules, no harm shall befall any of you. But that is not why I wanted to talk to you tonight. You three," He looked at the hikaris, "Need to have your story straight for when you get to Hogwarts. There will be people who will pry, and unless know your background, you will be exposed."

"Who will pry?" Yugi asked.

Dumbledore sighed. "The Ministry of Magic. I am afraid that we have not been seeing eye to eye, and they are looking for anything they can use against me to expose to the public. The minister had put one of his people in a teaching position." He looked very sad at this bit of information. He quickly changed the subject. "Now, do you three know what you are going to tell the students and staff once you get to Hogwarts?"

Ryou nodded. They had discussed this earlier today. "We are transfers from Japan, where there was no room for us so we never had a magical education. We did not know anything about the wizarding world until this summer, when you found out about us and invited us to Hogwarts." It was partially true.

"Good. I encourage you to trust Harry, Elizabeth, Ronald, and Hermione. These are dark times, and nothing is more important than the unity and trust we share with our friends. We are only as strong as we are united, and only as weak as we are divided." The three hikaris and Yami nodded, as they were well aware of the importance of friendship. Bakura just rolled his eyes, but he remained quiet.

"Now, here is a catchup program I had some of my staff devise for you three." He handed them each a stack of papers, and conjured a few books out of midair. "It will cover the basics of what you need to know for your 5th year. The ministry cannot detect your magic, so you are free to use it to _practice_ these spells as you wish. I am sure someone won't mind letting you borrow their wands until you can go buy your own. I expect this review will be finished by the start of term." He paused for a moment in thought. "If you are in need any help, Miss Granger will be an excellent tutor. But, for now, I must ask you to leave. Our meeting will start soon, and it is not for the ears of underage wizards." He smiled again, as the yamis returned to their items and the hikaris stood up to leave .

"I expect to see you soon."

**Wow, this story is getting _long_. I'm already at 20k words, and Harry and Ellie haven't even made it to headquarters yet. And I just realized that I completely forgot to incorporate a trip to Diagon alley for the transfers. I might just skip that, because there is nothing significant to the plot that I can see happening in that scene.**

**Anyways, I couldn't resist making a slightly sarcastic jab at the whole 'friendship is everything' theme that YuGiOh has got going. I mean, it's a great concept, but they overuse it and it makes me embarrassed for poor Anzu every time she opens her mouth.**

**I think that that is everything that I wanted to letcha guys know. I always update then realize that I forgot to mention something. **

**Back to the story, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review, review, review! Love you guys :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I know that this is MEGA short, even for my standards, but the muse left me and I decided to just post it and cross my fingers. **

**Also, I would like to thank The Amber Raven for all of her help and support in this story. She has (whether knowingly or unknowingly) seriously helped developed the plot, and I will be forever indebted to her. Check her out, guys.**

**I own nothing, ladidaa, but you already knew that.**

**-blah- = mind link**

Blah** = when people are speaking a different language than the one that everyone else present understands. (This will mostly be for the transfers, but I might switch it up later, who knows?)**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 7

Ryou and the other 2 transfers exited the kitchen, only to pass all of the Order members who had not gone to pick up Harry and Ellie. They recognized some of them, but not all. The ones that did know them greeted them enthusiastically, though.

Ryou shyly waved back. -Look, my little yanodoushi is making friends.- Bakura laughed meanly. -Don't get used to it, I am getting bored.-

Ryou shuddered, but did not answer. Nothing good ever happened when his yami was even remotely bored.

The trio walked to their room. After cleaning the library that afternoon, they had mostly been keeping to themselves. They liked all of the Weasleys and Hermione a lot, as they had loads of fun decontaminating the library together, but they didn't know if they could have trusted them. However, Dumbledore's words had got them all to thinking.

"Trust them?" Exclaimed Malik in Japanese so that they couldn't be overheard. They had caught wind of Fred and George's Extendable Ears. "We haven't even met half of the people that Dumbledore wants us to trust!" He collapsed on his small bed, which caused a plume of dust to rise and coat the three.

Yugi coughed. "I trust Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione don't seem at all bad, and if it's true that Voldemort is after Harry, then we're all in the same boat, aren't we?" He said, ever the trusting one.

Ryou nodded. "It would be nice to make some new friends," He eyed his homework. "Especially ones that know how to do these review packs. Besides, we don't have to tell them about the Millennium Items."

"We don't know them, though. They could meddle…" Malik said. Ryou knew that he had always had trust issues, due to his less than happy past. But who could blame the poor guy?

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. A gangly redhead poked his head in. "Hey, you guys should come over to my room. Hermione reckons that you could use some help with your review packs." He rolled his eyes. "But you don't have to actually _start_ them tonight, she just _loves_ schoolwork."

Ryou laughed. Ron and Hermione were always bickering like cats and dogs. "Sure, I was just saying that I could use a hand with these." He gathered his homework, then turned to his friends. "Are you guys coming?" Yugi nodded, and sprang up to join them. Malik looked hesitant, but followed them nonetheless.

Hermione was already in Ron's room, laying on her stomach with her books spread out all around her. She looked up when the boys walked in. "Ooooh, this is going to make an excellent review for our OWLs, Ron!" She stood up and excitedly snatched the packet from Ryou's hand.

-Nerd.- Thought Bakura.

-Don't call her that! She's _helping_ us, remember?-

Bakura just laughed and called Ryou some very colorful things, to which he would not defend himself.

While Hermione was leafing through the packet, Ron let his curiosity get the better of him. "So, what did Dumbledore want?"

Ryou shifted uncomfortably. He thought back to what Dumbledore said about trusting them. He decided to compromise. "He wanted to make sure that we had our stories straight. You know, for the other students."

"What exactly is your story, then?" Hermione asked, emerging from their homework.

Before any of the transfers could answer, the door opened, and in walked a very disgruntled looking boy with messy black hair and glasses. There was somebody behind him, but before Ryou could get a decent look Hermione had let out an ear-splitting shriek and thrown herself at Harry. The papers that were in her hand flew everywhere.

"Harry! Ellie! Ron, they're here! Oh!" She released him, only to attack who Ryou could only assume to be Ellie. Ron jumped up and ran over as well, and joined in on the reunion. What followed was excited chatter and laughing, none of which Ryou could make out.

He felt awkward, almost as if he were intruding on a private moment. It was fairly obvious that these four were very close. Perhaps even closer than Yugi, Yami, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu. It also made him very sad, because he knew that with Bakura sharing his body, he was never going to have friends like that. It was too dangerous.

Ryou looked over at Malik, who looked just as awkward as he did. Yugi, on the other hand was watching them with an almost sad smile on his face. Perhaps he was missing his friends?

When the hugging and the handshaking was finished, the four separated enough for Ryou to get a good look at everybody. Harry was tall, lanky, and was wearing clothes that looked to be quite a bit too big for him. The scar that Ron had told them all about was prominently staring at all of them from underneath his messy black fringe. He was shivering.

When Ryou looked at Ellie, he was shocked. As he took in her appearance, he began to blush furiously. He thought that she was beautiful. She was smaller than even Yugi, but her wild blonde curls gave her a few inches in height. Her skin was pale, almost paler than his own, so it was fairly obvious when her face, already tinged pink from the cold flight, blushed as she looked back at him and realized that Ryou wasn't going to look away. He couldn't see her eyes clearly, because they were partially hidden behind a pair of glasses, but even with an obscured view Ryou could tell that Ellie was thinking.

He eventually remembered where he was, and jerked his attention away from her, and on to Hermione, who was babbling about the attack on them.

He wondered how anybody could order an attack on someone like _Ellie_.

"Oh, and you guys haven't even met the transfers yet!" Hermione eventually spat out, realizing her social blunder. Said transfers stepped forwards to introduce themselves.

"Hello, my name is Yugi Muto." He smiled, shaking their hands. Yugi didn't look nearly as affected by Ellie as Ryou, he realized with an even deeper blush. "You guys must be Harry and Ellie. We've heard so much about you." Ellie's thoughtful look had turned to one of shock.

This went unnoticed by Malik, who stepped forward. "I am Malik Ishtar! Nice to meet you all!" He grasped Harry's hand, and then moved onto Ellie. He smiled warmly at her and shook her hand longer than, what Ryou thought, was strictly necessary.

-Jealous, hikari? You'd better jump while you can, before she becomes Ishtar's.-

As much as Ryou disagreed with this statement, it did remind him that everyone was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to introduce himself. Ellie's face had turned to a look of triumph, as if she had finally realized what she had been trying to figure out.

-Don't get too attached to the girl, Yanodoushi, I want what you want, remember? And I _always_ get what I want.- He cackled, and Ryou shuddered. He tried to ignore what the spirit just said and the implications that it could hold for Ellie as he introduced himself. Bakura was right, he couldn't allow himself to get too attached.

"Hello, I am-"

"Ryou. You're Ryou Bakura." Ellie finally spoke, looking over at Ryou.

**xxx**

Once Ellid got over her initial shock of Hermione jumping Harry, seemingly coming from nowhere, she smiled. Hermione released Harry and then allowed Ellie to jump into her arms next.

"Hermione!"

"Ellie!"

"I've missed you so much!" They both squealed into each other's hair. After a few moments, they separated, wiping their eyes so that Ellie could instead jump Ron.

"Oh, Ron!" Her voice was muffled, as her face was buried in a flustered Ron's chest. She pulled back slightly, but did not release him. "You've grown again!"

Ron grinned at her. "Yep! I'm taller than Fred and George now!" He pulled away from her in order to once again grasp Harry's hand. Ellie hugged Hermione again.

"You are so cold!" Hermione squealed, finally coming down from her excitement long enough to feel the temperature difference. "Both of you!"

"Yes, well we only just got off of our brooms! It was nearly an hour's flight," Ellie responded, finally releasing Hermione.

"Moody never told us to dress warmly." Harry scowled. Ellie frowned. She could sense another explosion coming on from him.

Hermione, oblivious to Harry's state of mind, winced sympathetically, then leaned forwards to the newcomers. "We have guests…"

Ellie looked behind her and Ron. There were three strange looking boys sitting on the bed. She hadn't noticed them in her excitement, and by the looks of it, neither had Harry, who looked even more upset at this new development.

She knew these boys.

The first one was a very tanned blonde, who looked tough and rugged, yet still handsome. He was busy examining the scar on Harry's forehead to take much notice of Ellie. The second boy looked like he couldn't be much taller than Ellie herself, but his tri-colored spiky hair more than made up for it. He looked fresh out of Japan, with his strange leather attire. He still looked very innocent, however there was a certain confidence in the way he stood that made Ellie think that there was more to him than meets the eye.

The third boy, Ellie realized with a start, was staring at her. When they locked eyes, he blushed. Ellie looked curiously back at him, trying to figure out where she knew him from. When neither looked away, they both began blushing furiously. Ellie was aware of Hermione babbling away beside her, but she was too busy blushing as the boy finally turned his attention away from her.

He was tall, and resembled an albino, with the white hair and pale pale skin. However his eyes were a deep chocolate brown which, just like his friend's, hinted at a deeper confidence within.

Ellie was positive that she had seen these boys before. But where? They looked _so familiar._

"Oh, and you haven't met the transfers yet!" Hermione's voice eventually broke through Ellie's inconclusive thought process. The three boys stepped forwards.

"Hello, my name is Yugi Muto." He smiled and shook Harry's, and then Ellie's hand. She was right that he was fresh out of Japan, his accent was slightly difficult to decipher. But that only gave her theory more fuel… "You guys must be Harry and Ellie. We've heard so much about you."

"I'm Malik Ishtar," The blonde jumped forwards, wringing Harry's hand, and then grasping Ellie's limp hand and pumping it up and down. Evidently he did not notice her shocked expression, as he smiled very warmly at her. But she took no notice, as her theory was confirmed. She knew who they were now.

The boy that had been staring at her earlier stepped forwards next. "Hello, I am-"

Ellie cut him off. She didn't need to hear his name, she already knew it. "Ryou. You're Ryou Bakura."

The three wizards stared at her in shock, while the three transfers looked as though they were children who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"These three are the reigning Duel Monsters Champions," Ellie told her friends. "And you," She pointed at Yugi, "are the King of Games."

**DUNDUNDUUUH. **

**Just kidding. I suck at cliffhangers. Whatever, I know how much you all hate them anyways.**

**Anywho, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! It was meant to be much longer, but I had this much finished and I can't resist posting. Especially when I have writer's block. Ick.**

**Hope you liked it! Review review review! :3**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Once again, not much to say here. I just wanted to let you know that for the purposes of this story, Yugi, Malik and Ryou are the world's top three duelists. It's not a major plot point, but it just sounds better to say that 'the world's top 3 duelists are attending Hogwarts'.**

**-blah- = mindlink**

**I own absolutely nothing! There is a big chunk of dialogue from the book in here, which I am usually against, but I feel like it needed to be in there. But no part of that conversation is mine, I promise!**

** Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8**

"These three are the reigning Duel Monsters Champions," Ellie told her friends. "And you," She pointed at Yugi, "are the King of Games." Ryou was surprised. From the way that the wizards have been acting all day, he figured that none of them knew anything of muggle things.

Yugi smiled sheepishly at her. "Call me Yugi," he said.

"What in Merlin's name is Duel Monsters?" Ron asked.

"It's a card game in which you play a combination of different cards to defeat your opponent's monsters and life points," Yugi explained.

"You would like it Ron, it involves a lot of strategy. You're good at that," Ellie told him, thinking of his talent for wizard's chess.

"Do you play?" Yugi eagerly asked Ellie. He was always looking for new opponents. Ryou wouldn't mind either, he was already looking for excuses to get to know her.

"Not really," Ellie replied. "I've played once or twice, but with a borrowed deck. My brother is into it, but I'm not very good."

"We'll have to teach you then!" Malik jumped in, happily.

Ryou frowned internally at Malik's forwardness while Bakura laughed at him. -I think that your jealousy has you jumping to conclusions, yanodoushi. I do not believe that Ishtar wants the girl.- This was meant in a mean way, but Ryou believed, with a little jolt of hope, that it might be true. -I'm not jealous, Koe. I barely know her.- Ryou told Bakura defensively, while the spirit just laughed again.

"Maybe. I'd need a proper deck first." Ellie smiled at him. "So, what brings you here anyways?"

"Ryou here was attacked by Death Eaters, and he fended them off. Now Voldemort wants him, and by extension, us." Malik gave her the edited version.

"Huh?" Harry asked rudely.

Yugi looked at Malik pointedly, and said "Malik, Dumbledore said that we can trust them. I think that it's fair that they get the whole story."

Ryou knew that by 'the whole story' Yugi meant their edited version that left out the Millennium Items. The three of them explained as much as they could. It didn't paint a very clear picture, as there were very obvious holes in the story.

"So how did you summon up that monster anyways?" Ellie asked, sounding impressed. Ryou blushed.

"I'm sorry. We can't tell you." He told her. He _was_ truly sorry. He wanted to trust them, but Malik was right. They just met them, and even if they meant well, they could meddle. Also, another thought occurred to Ryou just then. If they became friends, then they could be pulled into their mess as well. He shuddered at the thought. He finally has a chance to make a fresh start with people that seemed pretty nice, and he didn't want anything to hurt them.

Ron moaned disappointedly, which actually made the transfers all laugh. "Did you tell Dumbledore?" He asked them. "That bloke knows _everything_."

Malik laughed. "He already knew! No idea how." Yugi nodded in agreement.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that you're the top 3 duelists in the world?" Ellie asked.

"Ummm," Ryou said, trying to stall for enough time to come up with a decent lie. But in the end, he didn't have to.

"I don't understand how you know so much about them, El. I've never heard of them." Harry said moodily.

"I told you, Ollie was into Duel Monsters. Ever since his school went on that trip to Japan…"

Ryou didn't know what to think of Harry. Everybody here had spoken of him in such high esteem, yet he came off as very cranky and unpleasant to Ryou. Maybe he was missing something, but Harry did not seem to fit in with the friendly wizards that usually frequented Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"So," Harry continued, breaking Ryou out of his reverie. "This is the safe house that you've been hiding from us all summer?"

"Harry, we weren't hiding-" Hermione began.

"Yeah, Dumbledore made us _swear_ not to say anything, because he said that you were safest with the muggles," Ron interrupted.

"Well, he was wrong," Harry said quietly. "Has anyone here been attacked by dementors this summer?"

"Well, no- but that's why he's had people from the Order of the Phoenix tailing you all the time -"

"Didn't work well, though, did it?" Harry said, his voice betraying the anger he felt. Ryou was confused. What was a dementor anyways? He had heard about the attack, but nobody had ever explained to the transfers exactly what exactly had gone after them. "We had to look after ourselves after all, didn't we, El?"

"Harry, please. . ." Ellie pleaded, glancing at Ryou, Malik and Yugi. It seemed that she could read Harry's tone well enough to know that whatever he was about to do wasn't going to make a good impression on the newcomers.

"He was so angry. Dumbledore. We saw him. When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary."

"Well, I'm glad he left. If he hadn't, we wouldn't have had to defend ourselves and Dumbledore would probably have left us at Private Drive all summer."

Ryou noticed that Ellie looked down at this. Her body language was exceptionally easy to read, he noticed. She apparently didn't agree with Harry on this.

"Aren't you . . . aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?"

"No." Harry said at the same time that Ellie looked up and nodded. This must have flew over Harry's head, because he continued on as if she had not responded at all. "So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep us in the dark? Did you, er, bother to ask him at all?"

"We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on, we did, mate. But he's really busy now, we've only seen him twice since we came here and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to write you. The owl could have been traced. We had to sneak out that one letter in the middle of the ni-"

"He still could have kept us informed!" Ellie burst out, shocking the transfers. She had been so quiet during the entire argument, but apparently being kept in the dark was a soft spot for her as well. "You're not honestly telling us that Dumbledore doesn't have any other method of communication!" She sighed, shook her head, and took on a defeated look.

Hermione and Ron looked at each other sheepishly, knowing that their answer wasn't going to evoke a good response from Harry. "I thought that too," Hermione began nervously, "But he didn't want you to know _anything._"

"Maybe he thinks that we can't be trusted." Harry said carefully.

Ellie looked over at the transfers, apologetically, apparently just realizing that they weren't alone after her outburst. It was obvious that she knew what was coming, and it seemed that she was nice enough to save them from her friend's wrath. "Hey, can you guys show me where my room is? I've never been here before and I need to . . . erm . . . wash my hair. . ." The three boys couldn't be more thankful. They rushed out of the room, unnoticed by everyone else. They closed the door just in time to hear Harry begin shouting.

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS. BIG DEAL!"

Ellie flinched. She led them away from the door, until his shouting was (for the most part) too muffled to understand.

"I'm terribly sorry about him. He's not usually like that. He's just . . .er, it's just that. . ." It looked like she couldn't come up with a normal excuse for Harry's behavior. She sighed, and leaned against the wall. "His aunt and uncle are awful, the Daily Prophet has been saying horrible things about him, the Darkest and most powerful wizard of our time is after him, he might be expelled, and I think that he's hungry." She gave a weak smile. "I suppose he hasn't made the best of impressions on you three."

No one answered. Ryou agreed that he had made a bad impression, but she looked so dejected that he couldn't say it. Luckily, Yugi broke the uncomfortable silence. "No, he hasn't made the best impression. But I believe you, and I will give him a second chance. I'm sure that Malik and Ryou will too."

"Of course I will!" Malik said, clapping Ellie on the shoulder. She took a moment to look grateful, and then she looked hopefully at Ryou, who blushed again.

"I'll give him the benefit of the doubt," Ryou said quietly. Ellie's face broke into a huge smile, which resulted in a slight fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Bakura made a whip noise in their mind.

-Shut up, Koe.-

XXX

Ellie didn't know what to think. On one hand, Harry had been acting like this all summer, and she expected him to lash out at Ron and Hermione like this. But on the other hand, she was completely shocked over the appearance of the top 3 Duelists in the world, and the fact that Harry had just completely lost it in front of them.

She was glad that the three promised to give Harry a second chance once he calmed down enough to be a civilized human being. He had come off as very rude, though, so even though they said they'd give him the benefit of the doubt, Ellie didn't know if they would ever forget their first meeting. Harry was already so frowned upon in both the muggle and wizarding worlds, and the last thing that he needed was for even more people to dislike him.

Once Ellie got the three boys safely away from the scene of Hary's temper tantrum, she slipped back into his bedroom in order to try to help calm him down for Ron and Hermione's benefit. She flinched when she realized that he was still yelling at them.

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER-"

"No, honest!"

"Harry, we're really sorry!" Hermione was crying by this point. "You're absolutely right, Harry, I'd be furious if it was me!"

There was a long pause, in which none of them noticed Ellie's return.

"I hope you're happy, Harry. You've made a lovely impression on the transfers." She scowled at him, drawing the trio's attention.

He scowled back, but didn't say anything.

"What is this place?" Ellie asked Ron.

"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," He replied.

"Is anybody going to bother telling us what the Order of the Phoenix-?"

"It's a secret society." Hermione and Ron proceeded to tell Ellie and Harry all about it. They then told them what they heard on the extendable ears about the transfers, which was pretty much the same story that they had just heard. It seems like Dumbledore was the only one who truly knew exactly where their powers came from and what they were, and it wasn't a topic that was typically discussed in the meetings.

Fred and George eventually apparated in, delighted that Harry and Ellie had arrived. Ginny meandered in as well, and Harry eventually began to look ashamed of his behavior. _Serves him right_, Ellie thought.

The Weasleys and Hermione proceeded to tell Ellie and Harry all of the information that they had been deprived of all summer. They had just about wrapped it up when Mrs. Weasley's voice floated up the stairs, bellowing for them to come down to dinner. They met the transfers in the landing.

Harry looked even more ashamed of himself. "Look, I'm sor-"

Yugi interrupted him. "It's fine, let's just start fresh. We understand." Ryou and Malik nodded. Harry nodded awkwardly and they all began their descent down the stairs.

"Be quiet in this hallway, now," Ginny whispered to them as they tiptoed past a set of moth-eaten curtains. "You don't want to wake anything up."

No sooner had she finished her sentence than Tonks had tripped over the umbrella stand, evoking blood-curdling screams to be emitted from the curtains, which had flown open to reveal a madly screaming portrait of an unbelieveably ugly woman.

Sirius and Lupin rushed out, and together they forced the curtains shut. Ellie was shocked. _Who was _. . ?

"Hello, Harry. Hello, Ellie. I see that you two have met my mother." Sirius said.

"Sirius!" Ellie called, launching herself at him. Sirius, being so thin was nearly knocked over, but he somehow managed to stay upright. "Oh! Sorry!" Ellie released him, realizing that she had almost knocked him over.

Sirius laughed his bark-like laugh, and pulled Ellie to him to return her hug. With his other arm, he pulled Harry in.

"You look better," Ellie told him, wiping her eyes as she pulled back. She hadn't seen Sirius since the time that they met him in the cave, and at that point the had looked like death. While he was still very thin, it was a vast improvement.

Sirius laughed again. "It's amazing what Molly's cooking can do."

**Finally, finally, everyone's acquainted! I want to just skip the rest of their stay in Grimmauld place and get to Hogwarts, because this story was not meant to be nearly this long. xD But I'm going to do it right, so unless I get any major objections then I'm sticking to my guns.**

**Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it! Review review review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey y'all. :) **

**This was updated WAY earlier than anticipated, but I had a free day, so hey, why not? (ihavenolife:C ) **

**There's some Bakura POV coming up. I hope that you guys all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm a fangirl, so sue me. We all are, otherwise we wouldn't be here, right?**

**I own nothing!**

**-blah- = mindlink , but I'm sure you've got this down by now.**

**Enjoy! **

Chapter 9

"Nearly time for bed, I think," yawned Mrs. Weasley later that night after Ellie and Harry's welcoming feast. It _was_ getting late, thought Ryou. They had spent nearly the entire day cleaning.

"Not just yet, Molly," Sirius said. He pushed away from his plate and turned to Harry and Ellie. "You know, I'm surprised at you two! I thought that the first thing that you would do would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

The light, cheerful atmosphere in the room instantly changed to a heavy one. Ryou looked at Harry, who looked slightly offended at his Godfather's accusation.

"I did! I asked Ron and Hermione, but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so-"

"And they're quite right, you're too young." Mrs. Weasley interjected, approvingly.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions? Harry and Ellie have been cut off from us for a month. They've got the right to know what's happen-"

"Hang on!"

"How come Harry gets to have his questions answered?" The twins interjected hotly.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!

This resulted in a full on argument, involving pretty much everybody at the table. Ryou, Malik, and Yugi automatically leaned in towards each other in order to be close enough to hear each other over the shouting.

"They're crazy!" Malik declared, warily eyeing Sirius, who, at the moment looked positively murderous.

Yami took over for Yugi in order to have his opinion heard. "You are right, Tomb Keeper. I do not wish to be involved in this petty drama. I am only here in order to protect my hikari."

Ryou frowned. He wished that Bakura would have the same mindset about him, but all he cares about is finding a way to get a body of his own, Ryou be damned. "We should go." He finally said quietly.

The other two transfers nodded, and they slipped upstairs, unnoticed.

**xxx**

Later that night, while everyone was sleeping, Ryou's eyes snapped open. But their coloring was off. What was usually chocolate brown was now blood red. His long white hair was now spiked up, considerably higher than normal.

Bakura sat up, and pulled his clothes on. He made sure that his deck was in his pocket, and he snuck towards the door. Malik's loud snores made the perfect cover for anybody sneaking around trying to be unheard, but the Thief King needed no such thing, as he was silent as a ghost. The normally squeaky door didn't make a peep as he slipped through it.

Nighttime was the perfect time to defy his irksome host. Ryou had surprisingly grown powerful enough to be able to annoyingly communicate with the spirit when he is in control of his body. This usually only happens when Bakura is doing something that Ryou is particularly opposed to, though. But when Ryou's body fell asleep, so did his mind. This meant that Bakura could wake the body up without alerting Ryou. So the spirit was, for the time being, completely alone.

The very first thing that Bakura did was pull out the Millennium Ring. He knew that there was a lot of magic running through this house, and he wanted to know where the more powerful items were located. They could come in useful.

He laid the ring flat on his hands, and before he could give it instruction, the pointers went haywire. No two pointed in the same direction, and they didn't point at the same thing for long. It looked as though a heavy gust of wind had taken the pointers and was flaying them about as if they weighed nothing.

Bakura rolled his eyes. He had expected this, but it was so very _inconvenient._ There was too much magic in this house for the ring to hone in on one thing. With all of the interference, he doubted that the ring could lead him to Yugi or Malik, who were both only through the door that he was only steps away from.

This meant that he had to do this the old fashioned way, meaning rifling through things and hoping he came across something powerful, and then being able to identify it if he did find it. He growled, and slipped the ring under his striped blue and white shirt.

Bakura knew that this was also dangerous work, as he himself had witnessed the house and it's objects itself try to harm anyone who touched them. His host had done the tiresome job of cleaning without a second thought, but Bakura had been paying attention. He had a slight idea of which threats he should watch for, but he still did not have as much knowledge of this magic as he knew he should.

He headed to the drawing room, as there was nothing of much value left in the library after they had finished with it today. It was a shame that they wouldn't leave it as it was. Nobody staying in this house liked the dark, dirty, shady atmosphere, but it was certainly preferable to Bakura. He breathed in the scent of dust as he stepped in, closing the door behind him soundlessly. Dust meant old, and old meant valuable.

Bakura looked around. He didn't want to be taken by surprise by anything when he began his search. The only things out of the ordinary were the buzzing drapes over a window so filled with grime that you couldn't see through it, and the desk. The desk was rattling like there was something inside that couldn't get out.

Bakura approached it cautiously. He didn't want whatever was inside of the desk to lunge out and attack him.

But no, he thought, it seemed that it couldn't. Whatever was inside of the desk must have been trapped inside, and it was desperately fighting to get out. Bakura smirked, and pulled out the Ring once more. He had to see what was in there.

He summoned the shadows to open the drawer, so he could safely stand back at a distance. What came out was not what Bakura was expecting, not at all.

A cloud of black erupted out of the drawer. The cloud was so thick that it obscured everything behind it. It was getting bigger and bigger, and getting closer to Bakura. He reached for his deck, in order to summon something to keep it at bay.

But before he could do anything, there was a loud crack, and with a flash of light the black disappeared and he was looking at himself laying on the floor.

No, it wasn't himself. The eyes, they were different. It was … it was Ryou.

Dead.

How could that be? He was _in_ Ryou's body right now. Ryou couldn't be dead. No. His mind was whirling. It was impossible. He would never let anything hurt his light.

Bakura fell to his knees, and put a hand to his chest. His heart, no, _Ryou's heart_ was beating. He wasn't dead. His hikari couldn't be dead.

He crawled towards Ryou's body, and reached out a hand to touch him. He needed to feel for himself.

At the exact moment that his hand would have made contact with his light's cheek, Ryou's body disappeared with another crack. The cloud of black was back, and Bakura jumped to his feet, livid.

He understood now. It was the creature. It must show him his worst fears. The shadows and a dead Ryou. With a mask of rage on his face, Bakura used the power of the ring to stuff the creature back into the desk. With a satisfying thud, the drawer closed, the desk rocked, but more importantly the creature was trapped once again.

Bakura backed as far away from the desk as far he could, and slipped back out the door.

He slammed it, and sank down it until he was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. There was only one thought running through his head. When he had seen Ryou's body, his mind had not jumped to his own fate if his host had died. No, he was upset that Ryou was dead. Nothing less, nothing more. He had only Ryou's safety on his mind. Since when did he worry so much about his host?

And since when did he worry so little about himself?

If Ryou had really died, then what would have happened to Bakura? Back to the ring, he supposed, until some other poor soul was destined to have it. That could have meant another 3000 years stuck in the ring.

Bakura was well aware that he needed his host to live in the real world.

He was just so shocked that this thought did not cross his mind once when he saw him dead.

He just thanked the Gods that Ryou had not woken at any point during any of this.

He stood up, and slipped to the foyer. Bakura needed out of this house. He needed to be as far away from that wretched creature as possible in order to think properly.

Bakura reached the front door, and tried to pull it open. Nothing. It was locked. He pulled out his lock picking kit (neither he or Ryou were ever without it, but Ryou wasn't aware of this) and stuck it inside the lock. It immediately zapped him and sent the lock pick flying.

Bakura turned around to go and retrieve it, but there was already someone there, holding it in her hands.

"Going somewhere?" Ellie asked, examining the pick. "Only official members of the Order are able to open that door, you know."

Bakura examined her. He could see why Ryou liked her so much,. She was pretty, but in a simple way. She wasn't the girl that turned heads everywhere she went: Ellie was just the embodiment of what Ryou liked in a girl. She had the pale skin and wild hair, with a small stature that was very similar to that of Amane's.

Standing in front of him in a long pink nightgown, she looked completely harmless and innocent. But that didn't matter to Bakura, who needed an outlet for all of his rage.

He resisted the urge to banish her to the Shadow Realm, (this was only for Ryou's sake, it seemed that he now cared about the foolish boy) and instead stalked forwards and snatched the pick out of her hand, shoving past her. She was knocked into the wall. Bakura ignored the sound of her head smacking the wall, and gripped the pick so hard that it's sharp edge cut into his palm.

He prayed to Ra for the strength not to harm this foolish girl who was now hurrying after him down the hall.

**xxx**

Ellie heard a faint crack from downstairs. She had always been a light sleeper. She looked at Hermione and Ginny, who were both still fast asleep in their own beds. Quietly, Ellie climbed out of bed, slipped on her glasses, and grabbed her wand.

Mrs. Weasley had told them that there was a boggart in the drawing room earlier that day, and that's what the crack had sounded like. She wanted to go and make sure that none of the transfers had stumbled across it and were facing their worst fears.

She hurried out of the room, and was on the second floor landing when she heard a thud, and a door close. She didn't know what those sounds meant, but she nonetheless moved faster.

When Ellie passed the drawing room, there was nobody in it. The desk did seem a little more crooked than usual, though. She turned and walked down the hall, wondering who exactly was down here.

Her question was answered when she stepped into the foyer. She wasn't exactly trying to be quiet, but Ryou must not have heard her because he continued to try and get outside. Ellie watched as he first tried the doorknob, but was obviously unsuccessful because Dumbledore himself had placed a seal on the door that only a select few could open.

She then cocked her head as Ryou pulled out a lock pick from his pocket, and unhesitatingly thrust it into the keyhole, only to have it fly backwards past him and land right at Ellie's feet. She picked it up.

Ryou turned around. He was obviously surprised to see her, but he didn't jump, start or give any sign that she had taken him off guard.

"Going somewhere?" She asked. Ellie looked down at the lock pick, wondering where he had gotten it. It looked very old, and if used on the right kind of lock, very effective. "Only official members of the Order are able to open that door, you know."

When Ellie looked up, she realized that Ryou was, once again, staring at her. But there was something different about him. He must have had a massive case of bed-head, because his white locks were sticking up in every direction. And maybe it was a trick of the light, but his eyes were … different. She couldn't place exactly what the difference was, but it was there.

He must have had quite a nasty round with that boggart to have put him in such a bad mood, because the next thing that Ryou did was knock Ellie hard into a wall and grab his pick as he stalked past her. Her head thudded sickeningly on the wall, but he did not turn back.

Ellie quickly righted herself, rubbing the soon-to-be egg on her skull. She hurried after him.

"Ryou? Ryou!" He ignored her, but she followed him straight into the kitchen. "I know why you're acting like this."

This seemed to finally evoke a response from him, because he stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around, his eyes staring daggers.

Ellie was terrified of the look that he was giving her, but she did not back down. She knew what it was like to face a boggart, and Ryou probably didn't even know what it was.

"You just saw your worst fears. In the drawing room. I heard the boggart."

Ryou's face turned from one of pure malice to a look of confusion. "The what?"

Ellie was taken aback from his sudden mood change. "A boggart. They're dark creatures that take the form of what you fear most. They like to hide in small dark spaces. We learned about them in third year." She timidly took a few steps closer, letting her hand drop from the bump on her head. "Are you okay? I know it's, well, it's not easy going through that, especially not knowing that it's only an illusion."

Ryou eyed the now smaller space between them. "I am fine." He said stiffly. He was no longer giving her that death glare, which Ellie took to be reassuring. She knew that he had mastered the ability to summon a power that killed a dozen death eaters, so she should be wary around him. Right now Ryou was anything but vulnerable, but there was something about him that Ellie still wanted to protect.

"Then why were you trying to run away?" She asked quietly.

**xxx**

Bakura wasn't trying to run away. He wasn't.

He just wanted to clear his head.

Why did this little girl keep making him doubt himself?

"I was not trying to run away." Bakura yanked a seat out from the table, and sat down. He rubbed the lids of his closed eyes with his fists. "I needed to think. I wanted fresh air."

Annoyingly, the girl took a seat across from him. "Would you have come back?" She whispered.

Bakura snapped his head up. "Of course I would have." He spat. Why was she being so nice to him? Bakura was being a real jerk to her, and they both knew it.

"I'm sorry that you're locked up in here, then." She told him. "What about your friends?"

"My. . . friends?"

"Yugi and Malik. Would you tell them if you left? I thought that Voldemort was after all of you."

Ra damn it. There she goes again. Not that Bakura cared about Yugi and Malik, but he certainly did not want someone like the Dark Lord getting his hands on their Millennium Items.

Bakura stood up. "I am going back to bed." He snapped.

He turned around, and stomped out of the room, which was very out of character for him, and that only pissed him off even more.

**And there you have it!**

**Fun fact: Boggarts date back centuries in British history. They were legend to be mischievious poltergiests who dwelled in houses and liked to scare people. AKA the bogeyman.**

**I thought that that was the COOLEST thing ever, and that I would share with my lovely readers. I got that info from "A Muggle's Guide to the Wizarding World" by Fionna Boyle. It's got pretty much everything you need to know (only up until 5th year, sadly). Seriously guys, check 'er out.**

**So look, I'm going away this weekend, leaving Friday morning, and won't be back until late Monday or early Tuesday. It probably won't affect anything, but it's just a heads up nonetheless.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Review review review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed your long weekend! (If you live in Canada) And Happy Independence Day to all of you Yankees out there (I think that's how you say it).**

**Once again, I would seriously like to thank The Amber Raven. We had a nice long chat last night about my plot and she helped me work out some major kinks. Props to her, because without her my story would be crap. Everyone mail her a cake, please.**

**More Bakura in this chapter.**** I just loved writing him so much, I couldn't resist.**

**-blah- = mind link**

**Blah**** = people speaking Japanese**

**I do not own a thing!**

**Enjoy everybody!**

**Chapter 10**

Bakura silently slipped into the room that he shared with Yugi and Malik. Fools, he thought. Neither of them had stirred one bit at his disappearance and arrival. They were both still sleeping away, Malik snoring, as though nothing had happened.

But something had happened. Bakura climbed back into bed, and retreated to his soul room where he could think properly. He didn't understand why the boggart had shown him Ryou's dead body. He also didn't understand why it had bothered him the way that it had.

He also didn't understand why he couldn't get the image of Ryou's body out of his head, and why his hands were shaking violently.

Bakura closed the door to his soul room, and instantly noticed that something was amiss.

It was brighter in here.

Not by much. Nobody else would have noticed it. But this was Bakura's soul room, and every minute detail was his to notice.

The room was a reflection of the cave where he had witnessed the massacre of his village, and his family. Of course, the cauldron, platform and people were all missing. To anyone else it was quite unremarkable, but Bakura could never forget the scene of his worst memory.

It was usually very dark in here, the only light coming from a few torches spaced periodically on the damp stone walls. But it was lighter today. It was as if the flames burnt brighter than usual. Bakura's shadow was less pronounced.

Bakura's footsteps echoed loudly as he walked in, the slapping noises reverberating throughout the room. He did not try to be quiet. He was not afraid of what was in here, he encouraged it to come out and fight him. He could use a good fight right about now to distract himself.

But nothing came. He waited, and looked in every nook and cranny of the cave. There was nothing there.

Bakura perched himself on a flat rock that he had grown accustomed to sitting on. His back was to the wall, so if anything were to come it could not sneak up behind him.

It was here that he began to think.

Ever since Ryou had received the Ring from his father, Bakura had possessed him, abused him, and ridiculed him. His hikari's feelings and wellbeing had never been an issue for him. He had hurt him many times, and he _reveled _at the fear in his yanodoushi's eyes every time he looked at him. It made him feel powerful.

Bakura would even hurt his host's friends. He had caused him to be expelled from many schools, inexplicably causing his schoolmates to fall into comas. Of course, he had really been defeating anybody who foolishly agreed to play a game with him. They had unknowingly agreed to Shadow Games. The comas could never be pegged directly on him, but everyone believed it to be Ryou. His classmates would always end up blaming something else on Ryou to get him expelled. His hikari had never had anybody to call a friend until Yugi. His mother and sister were dead, and his father couldn't bear to look at him for fear of being reminded of the lost child and wife that Ryou resembled so much. He had always felt so alone, because he knew that his darker half would hurt anybody that incorporated themselves with Ryou, just to make his hikari miserable.

Bakura had toned down his malice lately, but Ryou still believed him to be just as capable of horrible acts. Even now, with Yugi and Malik to keep him in check, Ryou was afraid to make new friends because of Bakura.

His hikari had suffered horribly for years because of _him_.

He felt a pang of guilt. The experience was unfamiliar to him. Bakura had never felt anything but pure _rage _in millennia. What was happening to him?

The torches on the wall flickered out.

Bakura's head snapped up. They came back on within seconds, but when the flames resumed their dance in the torch brackets, it was _brighter still_ in here.

_What was happening to him?_

**xxx**

The next morning, Ellie got up early. Ignoring the ache from the big bump on her head, she shook Hermione awake. Ellie pressed a finger to her lips and gestured at Ginny, miming that they must not wake her. Hermione nodded, confused, but still ready to oblige. The pair dressed silently, and slipped out of their room.

Ellie glanced at the transfer's bedroom door. It was very close to theirs, and Ellie did not want to be overheard.

"What happened to your head?" Hermione pushed Ellie's bangs back, noticing the egg on her forehead.

"Shh, not here. I need to tell you something. Where can we talk?" Ellie had only just arrived last night, and was not yet familiar with her surroundings.

Hermione led Ellie up a winding staircase. They passed two floors until they reached a small alcove with a dusty bench in front of a moldy window. It was completely out of the way, as there were no bedrooms in use up here. Nobody had any reason to come up here and overhear them.

"What's so important, El? And what about your head?" Hermione asked, taking a seat. She angled her body away from the window, shivering at the cold early morning draft that was drifting through.

Ellie sat down next to her, and looked out the window. It actually had a beautiful view. Number 12 Grimmauld Place towered above the surrounding houses. They could watch the sun rise, as it was only just beginning to peek out from behind the horizon. It was going to be another scorcher.

She sighed. Where to start?

"I'll tell you about my head in a sec. Let me start at the beginning. So, a few days ago, before the dementors attacked us, Harry had another vision."

Hermione nodded nervously. Her and Ellie were the worriers. Harry and Ron usually forgot about the visions soon after they happened, so Ellie knew Hermione was the one to tell about this.

"He said that Voldemort was after someone. A boy. I guess he demonstrated some sort of power-"

"Yes!" Whispered Hermione excitedly. "That was Ryou. Remember what he told us last night?"

"Yeah. Harry reckons that Voldemort wants to control him."

"So Harry must have known before the Order, then."

"Yes, he did." Ellie bit her lip. "We shouldn't tell the transfers that he knew. They might get suspicious. Besides, we don't know if we can trust them. . ." She trailed off. The implications of what went unsaid were obvious. If the transfers betrayed them, then Harry would be the first to know.

"There's something else." Ellie told Hermione about her catching Ryou trying to leave the house last night.

Ellie's best friend instantly understood what she was worried about in this situation.

"What was he doing in the drawing room in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know. He must have been snooping for him to have found that boggart."

"Then he tried to leave headquarters?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah. He said he needed fresh air, but I don't know. What if he's spying on the Order? It didn't even cross my mind last night, but the more I thought about it, the more suspicious it looked. He had this ancient lock pick. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before. And get this," Ellie stood up and tiptoed to the top of the stairs, and peered down to check if the coast was clear. Satisfied, she resumed her perch next to Hermione. "There was something . . . Off about him. I don't know. He was scary. He _pushed_ me into the wall." She pointed at the bump on her head.

Hermione's eyes widened. "_Ryou _did that?" It was hard for either of them to believe that sweet, innocent Ryou had shoved a girl, let alone do it unprovoked.

"I blamed it on the boggart, and I still think it _could_ have been the boggart. He didn't know what it was. It's only natural that it would put him in a nasty mood."

"Ellie, that's not a nasty mood. There's something _wrong_ there."

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. He just seemed off. Besides, Dumbledore trusts them. He invited them here to stay with us, and he's protecting them at Hogwarts."

Neither of them wanted to say it, because they were both wholeheartedly loyal to him, but they were thinking that Dumbledore didn't have a lot of reason to trust the transfers yet.

But then again, when had Dumbledore ever shared his reasons for trusting people with them? Look at Snape. The man screamed evil, yet Dumbledore trusted him enough to let him be in the Order, and teach at his school.

After a few moments of silence, Hermione spoke up. "Are you going to tell Harry and Ron?"

Ellie thought about this. She thought that she was just being paranoid, and didn't want to burn bridges before they were even built. "No. Not unless they give us more reason to not trust them. I'm just paranoid, I suppose."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

They both looked out the window again. The sun was now up almost all the way, and the shadows were creeping along the road, slowly stretching towards Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

**xxx**

Ryou woke up that morning as the sun's rays slipped out from behind the thick curtains and landed on his face. He groaned tiredly, and rolled over. He glanced at the clock, and was shocked at the time. _He had slept that late?_ Apparently he was more tired than he had thought. Yugi and Malik were both gone, Malik's bed unmade, whereas Yugi's was so smooth you could bounce a coin off of it. He smiled at the simple ways in which his friend's personalities shone through.

Ryou got up and dressed. As he slipped the Millennium Ring on, he noticed that the spirit was absent from his mind. Bakura must be in his soul room. That was strange, as Ryou knew how much he hated it in there. Why he hated it, he did not know. His yami usually sat in the back of Ryou's mind, quietly observing everything he did, with the occasional comment.

Ryou was still glad to be relatively alone for a few short moments. He reveled in his short-lived freedom.

He made his way down to the kitchen, which was empty except for a pink haired Tonks. She seemed very happy to see him.

"G'morning Ryou! Are you hungry? I can whip you up some breakfast!" She eagerly waved her wand, and instantly some eggs flew out of nowhere and cracked themselves onto an already hot pan (one missed and landed on the floor). "Oh well. I'll clean that later. How do you like your eggs?"

"Oh, anyway is fine, thanks." Ryou replied quietly. He sat down at the table, far away from Tonks. She meant well, but sitting around her while she was cooking was not advisable.

She bustled over and poured him a glass of pumpkin juice. "How did you sleep?"

Ryou was surprised. She was friendly to everyone, but Ryou was not used to almost-strangers being so nice to him. It was nice. "Good." It was true. He had slept like a rock, didn't even wake up once in the middle of the night. Which was weird, because he had slept in so late. He smiled at her. "And you?"

"Oh, I didn't. I was on guard duty." Tonks finished the eggs, and slid some toast onto his plate as well. She placed the dish in front of him and sat down across the table.

This perked Ryou's interest. "Guard duty?"

Tonks face instantly fell. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to tell you that." Her head fell down onto her hands. "I don't suppose you would mind keeping that to yourself? Mad-Eye would _murder_ me if he found out I let that slip." She raised her head suddenly, a huge smile overtaking her face. "Or I could wipe your memory! Would you mind?"

"Uh, I won't tell anyone. No need to wipe my memory. . ." Ryou hastily began shoving food into his mouth, eager to finish before Tonks got any more ideas.

But his mind was whirling. Guard duty for what? Harry was here, with a handful of Order members on hand at all times. She couldn't have been talking about him. So what were they guarding?

"Err," Tonks was clearly eager to leave before she could get into more trouble by putting her foot in her mouth. "I suppose. . . I suppose I should get home now. You know, get some sleep."

"Okay. Thank you for breakfast, Tonks."

Her face exploded into a huge smile. "You're welcome, Ryou! And remember," She tapped her nose and winked, "Don't tell anyone!"

She walked out the door of the kitchen, leaving Ryou alone with his thoughts and his breakfast.

It was weird not having the spirit around. Even though he was afraid of him, and abused by him, he was _always_ there. Ryou decided that he wasn't enjoying being alone as much as he thought. If the spirit was there, he would have had someone else to speculate about what Tonks was guarding with. Though they didn't talk much, it was comforting to Ryou that he was always there.

Ryou finished his breakfast and placed his dishes into the sink. He set out to find the rest of the house's occupants. After a few minutes of searching, he found them in the drawing room.

Everybody was wearing masks, and had a spray bottle of something in their hands. When Ryou walked in, he noticed Ellie and Hermione exchanged a meaningful glance.

"Oh good, you're up!" Mrs. Weasley pounced on him before he could think about what that glance could have meant. She thrust a mask and a spray bottle into his hands. "Put this on. We're about to take care of this Doxy infestation." Mrs. Weasley explained what to do, and soon everybody was happily spraying away at the curtains.

Ryou was amazed at the vicious little Doxies. They looked like something straight off of a Duel Monster's card. One look at Yugi's face told Ryou that he was thinking the same thing. The mask covered his mouth, but his eyes were crinkled up, betraying his smile.

Time ticked by, and eventually Ellie and Ryou ended up side by side. He was very much aware of their closeness. If the air wasn't full of Doxycide, he imagined that he could have even smelled her.

Ryou snuck a glance at her face. She had obviously tried to wrestle her hair into a ponytail to keep it off of her face for the occasion, but it was just too unruly. The look still suited her though, he thought.

Ellie stepped even closer to him still to avoid a two pronged Doxy attack, which Hermione helped her block. Their arms brushed, and Ryou instantly got butterflies in his stomach. He was suddenly very aware of his breathing. He didn't want to look stupid in front of her by breathing too loud.

Her newfound closeness allowed Ryou to see a bump on her head that hadn't been there the day before.

"Hey, Ellie, what happened to your head?" He asked her, blasting a particularly nasty Doxy in the face.

Ellie stopped spraying completely, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Beg pardon?"

"This bump on your head," He tentatively reached out and touched it. "What happened? That wasn't there yesterday."

Hermione, apparently had heard, because she too had stopped spraying and was listening to the conversation.

An odd look crossed both of their faces. "I fell, Ryou." Ellie said finally.

She was lying, he knew. It wasn't that she was a bad liar, but she wasn't particularly believable, as her and Hermione's previous behavior and her body language gave her away.

"Ouch," He finally replied. He wasn't going to question her. He didn't know her enough to accuse her of lying, yet.

Ellie and Hermione exchanged another glance. What was going on?

"How did you sleep, Ryou?" Hermione asked him nonchalantly.

Ryou was even more confused. Why was everyone asking him how he had slept? "Well. I slept well. And you two?"

"Like a baby." Ellie replied, once again sharing a glance with Hermione.

_What was going on here?_

**xxx**

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ellie demanded, once her and Hermione were on their own. They had run up to their room to change into clothes that weren't covered in Doxycide.

"He _gave_ you that bump, and can't even remember it? How can you not remember pushing a girl into a wall not 5 hours before?" Hermione replied.

"Something is up with him. I think it's time that we told Harry and Ron."

"I agree."

**xxx**

That night, after dinner, Ellie and Hermione walked into Harry and Ron's room.

"OI! Can't you two knock? I was changing!" Yelled a flustered Ron, as he yanked his trousers up.

"Nothing we haven't seen before, Ronald." Ellie said dryly. Harry and Hermione laughed while Ron turned scarlet.

"Still!" He protested.

"We need to talk to you guys," Hermione said, softly closing the door. "It's about the transfers."

Ellie took a seat next to Ron on his bed, and her and Hermione explained the incident with Ryou last night, and how he didn't remember it this morning.

"And then he said that he slept well!" Ellie finished, exasperatedly.

"What in Merlin's name is up with them? I knew that they were bonkers." Ron said, tactful as ever.

"Remember, this was just Ryou. There's nothing suspicious about Yugi and Malik." Hermione scolded him.

"Just association," Harry muttered. "I can't believe that prat pushed you!"

Ellie shook her head darkly. "He doesn't even remember it."

"And here Harry and I thought that he liked you!" Ron blurted.

Ellie blushed profusely, and shook her head quickly. Ryou couldn't like _her_.

Harry nodded earnestly. "Just the way he looks at you, El. I didn't think much of it at first, but I would watch your back. Don't go anywhere alone. He could be-"

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Malik poked his head in. Harry shut up quickly.

Malik obviously sensed that he had walked in on a private conversation. "Oh. Right. We just needed help with our homework, but if you guys are busy. . ."

"Oh sure!" Hermione replied, a little too chipper. "You guys can come on in if you want. We'd be glad to help."

Malik nodded slowly. "I'll go get Yugi and Ryou." He disappeared with a flash.

Hermione exhaled loudly and dramatically. "Harry's right, Ellie. Don't go anywhere alone. Not until we find out what's up." Her voice pitched up a few octaves on the last couple of words.

The transfers walked in a few minutes later, and settled in around the four. Ryou, Ellie noticed, perched as far away from Ellie as possible. He was even quieter than usual, letting his two friends ask all of the questions.

Ellie caught him staring at her again when he thought she wasn't looking.

She made sure that her wand was close by.

**xxx**

"So what? Everyone was asking how you slept." Malik said, lounging on his stomach, reading the _Monster Book of Monsters_. Ron had showed him how to read it without losing his fingers earlier. He rhythmically stroked the spine. "They're just being friendly, silly."

"No! I'm telling you, something's up!" Ryou protested from the other side of the room. He was pacing, while Yugi and Malik did their homework. At this rate, he was going to fall behind very quickly.

"Was it Bakura?" Yugi asked quietly, emerging from behind _The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 2_. "Maybe he had a midnight stroll and didn't tell you about it."

Ryou stopped pacing immediately. That _had _to be it. The relief at figuring out the mystery instantly turned into pure dread as he realized the implications of that. Bakura _had _been absent all day. It had to be him.

"Bollocks."

Malik and Yugi exchanged a worried glance. Ryou _never _cursed. What exactly had the evil spirit of the ring gotten up to last night?

"Ryou?" Yugi asked worriedly. Yami phased out.

"Call him out here so we can speak with him." Yami growled.

Ryou did just that. -Koe?- He asked timidly. Ryou had never called for Bakura before, so he didn't even know if he was doing it right. And he knew that if he was doing it right, then he was in trouble because he knew that Bakura was hiding for a reason, and would punish Ryou for disturbing whatever he was up to.

But apparently it worked, because moments later Bakura phased out in front of him.

"Yes, yanodoushi?"

"I wished to speak with you." Yami said from across the room. He walked towards the spirit, and actually stood in front of Ryou to protect him from Bakura.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by the spirit, who glared at Yami. "You are foolish to believe that you could stop me from getting to my hikari, Pharaoh." He stated simply. However, he made no move towards Ryou.

Ryou took a few steps forward, so he was standing beside Yami, and not behind him. "Koe, what did you do last night while I was asleep?" He restrained himself from asking why he had been hiding all day as well.

Bakura looked as though he had been expecting this question. "I was looking for anything of value." He said this as if it were obvious.

Yugi got off of the bed and stepped forward. "Did you meet anyone along the way?"

Bakura smirked evilly. But it didn't quite reach his eyes, Ryou noticed. He may be terrified of his yami, but he knew him, and something was up. "Yes. I do recall having a chat with the little blonde girl."

Ryou took a few steps backwards and sank onto the bed. _What did he do to her?_

Yugi voiced his question before Ryou had a chance to collect himself. "What did this chat consist of, Bakura?" He looked just as worried as Ryou.

Malik's face betrayed no emotion.

Bakura's evil smirk turned into a look of annoyance. "She dared to touch one of my most prized possessions. I simply had to take it back."

Ryou's heart sank. There goes any chance he had at being friends with Ellie.

"That bump on her head. That was you." He accused angrily. At this point he didn't even care about how the spirit would punish him. He was sick of him doing this to his friends. "And today I acted like nothing was wrong." He buried his head in his hands. "I should have apologized." He whispered in English.

Bakura laughed meanly again. Even though he couldn't see his yami, Ryou could tell once again that the laugh wasn't genuine.

At this point he didn't care, though.

When Ryou finally looked up, the spirit had phased back into the Millennium Ring once again.

Yugi walked over to Ryou, and laid a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Ryou."

Yami shook his head slowly. "No. I do not wish to be the bearer of bad news, but it is very likely that Ellie will tell her friends about this. I am afraid that we have to be extra careful around all of them now."

Malik got up. "Let's ask them to help us with our homework. That way we can try to keep them from talking to each other alone."

"Good idea, Malik." Yugi nodded firmly. "Go ask them. We're right behind you."

Malik hurried out the door.

"Ryou?" Yugi asked the distraught boy.

"Yeah?"

"It'll be okay." Yugi smiled at him reassuringly.

"I hope so."

"What are you going to tell her?" Yami asked.

"I- I don't know, Yami. She honestly didn't seem too mad about it this morning. I just wish I knew exactly what had happened so I can apologize properly."

It was at that point that Malik came back. Yami phased back into the puzzle, and the three boys trekked into Harry and Ron's room.

Ryou knew that they were too late. As soon as he walked in the door, Harry and Ron started throwing accusatory looks at Ryou, Hermione was acting a little _too_ natural, and the egg on Ellie's head was looking bigger and more painful then ever. Ryou took a seat on the windowsill as far away from Ellie as possible, and did his homework in silence. He didn't really need help anyways, everything seemed really easy to him.

Ryou decided to sneak a conversation with Bakura while he was pretending to be immersed in his work.

-Koe?-

Bakura mentally sighed. -Yes, yanodoushi?-

-What happened?-

**xxx**

-What happened?-

Ra damn it, Bakura thought. Now he was going to cook up some story to show his damned hikari so he would feel better. Bakura, for reasons that were beyond him, wanted Ryou's guilt at hurting Ellie to stop. Because Bakura was feeling guilty for making Ryou feel guilty.

He decided to go with the truth. Or at least part of it.

Bakura showed Ryou the memory, beginning from the knife flying from his hand, to him shoving Ellie into the wall and stalking away. He left out the part where she followed him and told him about the boggart, because that could lead to some awkward questions.

Ryou actually seemed relieved. Apparently he was glad that he had just _pushed _Ellie, and not actually struck her.

-Thank you, Koe.-

**xxx**

A few hours later, after the transfers had completed a big chunk of their review packs, Ellie stood up. She stretched and announced that it was time for her to go to bed. She was about to walk out of the room, when Hermione called her back.

"Elizabeth Milton!"

Ellie made a face. Evidently, Ryou thought, she did not like her full name. "What?" Hermione gave her a meaningful look. "Oh. Right. Are you . . . Are you coming Hermione?"

Ron snorted.

Ryou wasn't impressed though, this had been the opportunity that he had been looking for to apologize. He just needed to get Ellie alone. Oh well, this was the best that he could get. He would rather ask Ellie to talk in front of Hermione than Harry and Ron, who looked a lot more intimidating than Hermione. **(A/N: Wow, is he ever wrong.)**

"I think," He gave a very convincing fake yawn. "I think it's time for me to go to bed as well. Good night everybody." He followed Ellie and Hermione right out the door.

Ryou hurried around to corner in order to catch the pair just as they were about to walk into their room.

"Ellie!" He called softly.

Ellie turned around, eyes wide. Was that fear in her eyes? _Oh no._

"Can I talk to you?" He asked. She nodded slowly.

Hermione didn't move.

"Alone?" He elaborated, feeling very rude and blushing slightly.

Hermione opened her mouth, most likely to argue, but Ellie put her hand on her friend's arm. "It's okay, Hermione." She whispered gently.

Hermione gave her friend a shocked look, and then glared at Ryou. Obviously they had discussed last night already and did not want Ellie to be alone with him. When he realized this, Ryou felt a knot form somewhere in the vicinity of his esophagus.

"Fine. I'll be right inside." She looked pointedly at Ryou, clearly trying to send a threatening message. Ryou couldn't bring himself to be threatened by her though, with all that he had been through.

"Thank you." He bowed his head slightly towards her back, and the door clicked shut behind her.

Ellie took a few steps toward him, away from the safety of her room. Ryou was encouraged by this. They were now only separated by a few feet. Ryou took a step forwards as well, closing the gap.

"Yes, Ryou?" She breathed, not breaking eye contact. He was impressed at her nerve. He could tell that she feared him, yet here she stood, inches away from him.

"I just wanted to apologize for last night."

Her eyes widened slightly. Ryou assumed that she had been under the impression that he had forgotten about it.

"You did?"

"Yes. I was- I was. . . Upset. I had just had a bad dream, and I didn't mean to shove you so hard."

The look on Ellie's face told Ryou that he had just said the wrong thing.

"You were upset because you had a bad dream?" She asked softly. Her voice betrayed no accusation, but Ryou felt like there was more to the story than Bakura had told him, and she knew it.

_Bollocks._

"Yes." He decided to stick with his story. It was better than changing it, and certainly better than telling her the truth. Besides, whatever had happened could also be chalked up to him being upset over a bad dream, right?

"It's okay. Thank you for apologizing." She smiled at him, but her defensive posture cancelled out the friendly gesture.

Ellie turned around to go back into her room. Ryou reached towards her, and set a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her. He felt her flinch at her touch, and jerked his hand back.

"I really am sorry, Ellie." He whispered.

She didn't turn around. Ryou watched her head bob up and down in a nod, and she retreated to her room.

_Bollocks._

**Look at sweet little Ryou, swearing. Isn't he cute? I'm not sure, but I think him saying 'bollocks' constantly is something derived from YGOTAS. I did it subconsciously, then realized I may or may not have stolen it as I proofread it. Anyways, if I did steal it, it belongs to Little Kuriboh. Who is genius. **

**I had fun with this chapter as well. I cranked it out way faster than the rest of my chapters, and it's the longest one I've written so far. So I really hope that you enjoyed it. J**

**Review review review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Wow, this chapter was not easy to write. I had a massive case of writer's block, and I had to keep switching scenes suddenly and forcing myself to come back to it. Nonetheless, I'm relatively satisfied with how it turned out in the end.**

**I know that in the book they don't go to Diagon Alley for safety reasons, and I said I probably wouldn't include it, but I figured it would be a good way to incorporate . . Well, read on and find out, my friends.**

**I've included some Japanese/Egyptian names in here, they are flagged (with a *), and they will be explained in my end note.**

**-blah- = hikari/yami mind link**

**Blah**** = Japanese**

**I own absolutely nothing!**

**Enjoy! :3**

**Chapter 11**

"GIRLS! We're leaving now!" Mrs. Weasley's exasperated voice came bellowing up the stairs. Accompanied by Moody and Tonks, the group was going to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies, and Ellie and Hermione were running late. "The Knight Bus won't wait forever!"

"We're coming!" Hermione called back from her position at Harry and Ron's bedroom door. "Ellie! We shouldn't be doing this, it's a complete violation of priva-"

"Got it!" Ellie emerged from under Harry's bed, covered in dust and dirt, but triumphantly waving Harry's invisibility cloak over her head. "We're not invading his privacy Hermione, we're borrowing his cloak. You know Moody won't let Harry out of his sight! And if he knew what we were planning, he'd insist on coming. Him _and_ Ron _and _Moody." They were planning on following the transfers today in Diagon Alley to see if they could figure up what was up with Ryou. After all, meddling is what they did best. "Besides, all five of us _certainly_ can't fit under here." Hermione gave her a wry smile.

She stuffed the cloak into her purse. While it looked like a tiny bag from the outside, it was charmed to be able to hold anything the user put in it." Hermione had bought it for her last Christmas. "Thanks again for the purse, Hermione." Ellie grinned at her, and brushed all of the dirt off of herself.

"GIRLS!"

"We're coming!"

**xxx**

"The Knight Bus?" Yugi asked. "What is that?"

He got his answer immediately after as Moody pointed his wand at the street, and a violently purple triple decker bus came barreling down the street towards them. Apparently expecting this, the wizards all jumped back to avoid being hit. Yugi, Malik and Ryou were too late, and the bus screeched to a stop mere inches away from Yugi's nose.

"I'm sorry I asked. . ." Yugi mumbled, looking as though he was about to faint. Ryou knew how he felt, his heart was racing a million miles an hour. He looked at Malik, who was grinning as usual. It seemed that nothing, not even almost being hit by a triple decker bus, fazed this boy.

A pimply young man stepped out the door of the bus, and pulled out an index card. He began to recite it in a very bored tone. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunp-"

"We don't have time for this, boy!" Moody growled, ushering everybody on and fixating his magical eye on the startled youth.

"Well you might' have said so before," Stan snapped back indignantly. His eyes roamed over the group, until- "Oi! Neville! I was worried that ol' Sirius Black mighta gotten to ya!" He grinned so wide that Ryou worried that some of his pimples were in danger of popping, and grasped Harry's hand, eagerly pumping it up and down. "The Prophet has been having a field day with you, ol' mate." He lead them to a cluster of knocked over chairs in the back. "Well, sit down then!"

Ryou tentatively picked up a chair and took a seat, as he watched Tonks and Moody pull Stan aside and slipped him some big gold coins while arguing with him urgently.

-That's a lot of gold, Yanodoushi.- Bakura had slowly returned to his old self over the past few days. Ellie and her friends, however, were still very wary around the transfers.

-It must be their currency.-

-Can you get a closer look?- Another thing that the evil spirit had been doing lately was asking Ryou favors, as opposed to demanding them. Ryou certainly appreciated it, but he was still wary all the same.

-Not right now, Koe. I will ask later.-

Bakura growled, but dropped the issue.

"So where are we going to buy all of our supplies?" Malik asked Fred and George.

"Diagon Alley, of course!" They answered together.

"Which is where?"

"Ah, you go through the Leaky Cauldron." Said Fred.

"There's a barrier that only us magic folk can open. Muggles have no idea it exists, bless them." George said. "You'll find everything your little heart desires there, Ishtar." He grinned.

"Is there a game shop?" Yugi piped up eagerly.

"Yes there is! It's right next to the-"

"Book store." Harry and Ron both finished Hermione's sentence, earning themselves a glare from her.

Ellie laughed. "I'd like to challenge you to a game of exploding snap, Yugi." Her face fell a little bit. "I just have to buy a new deck, mine, well. . . Exploded."

Fred and George burst into laughter. "She built the biggest card tower I've ever seen!"

"Then George here came along-"

"And vanished the table-"

"It all came tumbling down-"

"Took out half of the common room!"

"And her eyebrows-"

"And quite a bit of her hair too-"

"That's enough!" Ellie interrupted crossly. "My hair just finished growing back in! And if you two were any kind of decent you'd buy me a new deck. It's your fault it exploded."

"Sorry El, our money is tied up elsewhere right now." The twins winked at Harry, who hastily looked away. Ellie apparently didn't notice this exchange, as she was too busy scowling and pointedly looking away from the twins.

She accidentally met eyes with Ryou in the process of this, and she hastily jerked her head away to face the window. It had been 4 days since Bakura had pushed her. The egg on her head had all but disappeared, but neither of them had mentioned it since his apology. Ellie still acted very polite to Ryou, and had even showed him how to perform a hover charm yesterday. Yet things between them were very tense, and she avoided eye contact. Ryou desperately wanted to tell her the truth, but Malik's mistrust of their new 'friends', and the thought of her getting hurt because of what she knew held him back.

Ellie's attitude towards Yugi and Malik was vastly different, however. She did not treat them as well as her 3 best friends, but she was certainly a lot more friendly towards them than Ryou. Yugi had been teaching her how to play Duel monsters properly, and she had gone over many potions with Malik. It seemed that she excelled in this subject, and Ryou couldn't help but be incredibly jealous that she was sharing her talents with Malik instead of him. He knew that Malik and Yugi did not care for Ellie the way he did, but this did not curb his jealousy at all. If anything, it made it worse.

Moody stumped over angrily, interrupting his thoughts. "Shunpike didn't like us requesting an early stop, but we eventually persuaded him to listen." Ryou guessed that they had persuaded him with another big stack of gold coins. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Take it away, Ern!" Stan called from up front.

BANG!

Every single chair flew backwards, and the kids landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor. The bus had flown forwards at such a speed that Ryou actually lost his breath, and he dizzily opened his eyes from his spot on the floor.

To his horror (and delight) he realized that Ellie had landed right on top of him. Ryou was essentially laying on Malik's legs, and Ellie was thrown haphazardly across his stomach, and Ron and George was on top of all of them. Their chairs had all broken in some way.

-Oh, look at you, Yanodoushi.- Bakura teased, referring to Ellie laying sideways across his stomach. He ignored his yami and blushed.

Moody, who had somehow remained standing throughout all of this, gave a gruff laugh at their misfortune and stumped his way up front to join Mrs. Weasley and Tonks.

Malik uttered some choice words in Arabic and Japanese.

Ryou looked over at the others, and noticed that they were tangled up in a similar heap of bodies.

"Get off of me, George!" Ron complained, shoving his older brother away.

"I can't breathe with you two great oafs on top of me!" Ellie joined in on the complaining, attempting and failing to lift herself off of Ryou. She awkwardly twisted her head around and looked at a spot somewhere on his forehead to avoid eye contact again. "Sorry Ryou!" He just blushed harder.

"Oi! Who are you calling an oaf?" George asked angrily, but finally got up. Ron was next, and the two of them pulled Ellie off of Ryou, who stood up shakily. He grabbed a nearby pole for dear life.

"My ribs! Oh, my ribs!" Malik, who was finally released, complained theatrically, clutching his sides.

"I don't think that I like the Knight Bus very much." Ryou said.

**xxx**

About a half hour later, the group split up. With strict orders from Moody, they knew that they had to stick in pairs, and stay in the populated areas. The transfers went off together with Tonks to get wands and robes, Mrs. Weasley took Ginny to pick up books for everybody, Fred and George went off without really explaining where they were going, and Moody stuck with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ellie.

"If you think that I'm going to let you go off unprotected, Potter, you've got another thing coming." He growled, his magical eye looking every which way for potential threats. He led the way to Madam Malkin's, as Ellie needed a new cloak.

The two girls trailed behind a little bit so that they could talk without being overheard.

"You're doing a good job acting like nothing's wrong with the transfers, Ellie."

"Not with Ryou. I can't even look at him without thinking of that _look_ he gave me the other night."

"Yes, well helping Malik with potions certainly is helping. And letting Yugi show you how to play Duel Monsters properly as well."

She murmured a tentative agreement, and then groaned. "We're never going to get away from them! Moody won't let Harry out of his sight!"

"Yes, we can. Follow my lead." Hermione pushed forwards into the clothing store. "They're having a sale?" She squealed excitedly, winking at Ellie.

**xxx**

Half an hour later, Ellie and Hermione's arms were laden down with robes, and they showed no sign of stopping. Harry, and Ron were sat on the bench designed specifically for men in their position, with their eyes glazed over. Moody stood watch at the door.

"Aren't you two finished yet?" Ron asked exasperatedly.

"No! Of course not!" Hermione looked scandalized. We haven't even covered the dress robe section yet! _And _we need to try them on."

Harry stood up. "We're out of here.. Sorry, guys, I can't handle this."

"Yeah," Agreed Ron. "This is worse than waiting for you and Harry to come out of the Chamber of Secrets, Ellie." He was referring to the cave in in the chamber which prevented him from helping Ellie and Harry go to his little sister's aid.

Ellie nodded understandingly. "Fine. But, before you go, can you tell me which you think would go better with my skin tone, the coral or the violet?" She held up two frilly sets of robes.

Harry and Ron blanched and bolted out the door.

The saleswitch approached Ellie with a similar colored set of robes. "I think that this would look lovely-"

"Oh, I don't care. Just give me any old thing." Ellie dumped her pile of robes into the saleswitch's arms. "I'm sorry. Can you put these back for me? I'll take the plain black one."

"Me too." Hermione proceeded to give her pile to the dismayed saleswitch.

"Don't you want to try it on?" She asked them hopefully.

"No thank you," said Hermione.

The girls quickly paid the confused woman, and shoved their purchases into Ellie's bottomless purse. They then ducked into an empty alley, and pulled the cloak over themselves.

"Let's find them."

**xxx**

Yugi looked at his list. "Okay, so we've got our wands, our robes, Mrs. Weasley's got our books, parchment, quills, ink and potion supplies. That just leaves pets."

Tonks grinned at them. "That's the best part! Look," She pointed at a store called Eeylops Owl Emporium. "Now, if you three don't mind, I have to get going. I have somewhere to be." She winked discreetly at Ryou. "I can take those purchases off of your hands if you wish." With a flick of her wand, all of their bags disappeared. "I expect that those turned up back at Headquarters. If not, well we can always come back, right?" She laughed. "Don't get into trouble now. As long as you stay on the alley you will be safe." Tonks grinned at them one last time, and hurried off into the crowd.

The three boys made their way off of the busy street and into the pet store. The bell over the door tinkled as they walked in. They were immediately greeted with the stench and the screeching of hundreds of owls, which instantly tempted Ryou to clap his hands over both his ears and his nose. The desk was vacant, so the clerk must have been out back.

"Wow!" Malik gushed in Japanese. "I've never seen so many animals in my life!" He was looking up at the owls all around him. There had to be hundreds of them. Feathers and droppings littered the floor, and the three walked in further to find rats, toads, cats, and birds of every size and color.

The bell over the door chimed, and the three boys turned around to see who else had came in. But there was no one there, it seemed that the wind had blown the door open. Ryou hurried over to close it.

On his way back, Ryou spotted a tiny kitten in a cage. The kitten's fur was as white as snow, and he was curled up in a tight ball, sleeping. When he approached, the kitten opened it's eyes and fixated the tiny green orbs on him.

Ryou was done for.

**xxx**

Bakura was done for.

He had a cat that looked exactly like that when he was a young boy, before the massacre. She had survived it, and he had taken her with him afterwards. She had lived long enough to watch Bakura become the Thief King. The cat had been one of the things that he had actually cared about in his former life.

-I had a cat exactly like that when I was young. Her name was Shu, after the Egyptian God. It means- -

-He who rises up.- Ryou tentatively smiled mentally.

-Yes. Yes it does.- Bakura held back a smile of his own, as he did not want to showcase his newfound affection for his hikari.

-I think that we've found our pet, Koe.-

**xxx**

Half an hour later, the three walked out of the pet store. Ryou had named his kitten Shu, in a strange moment of affection for Bakura. He had heard his thoughts on how much he had cared for his old cat. He was careful not to let Bakura know that he had heard, though.

Yugi was carrying a cage with a practical owl inside, so that he could communicate with his friends back home. He named it Akil*. It's eyes were a reddish brown color, which suspiciously reminded Ryou of Anzu's. When he noted this similarity, Yugi simply blushed and went mysteriously deaf until the subject was dropped.

Malik had his arms full of a kitten much livelier than the one that Ryou had chosen. The cat had been the tiniest one in the shop, and it was the runt of the litter. He was as black as night, and would not stay still. He kept trying to lick Malik's face, and was insistently determined to bat his long bangs out of his face. He named him Kuma**. The kitten certainly was not short on adorableness either.

The three boys were ecstatic at their newfound friends, and they were all gushing excitedly to one another as they walked down the street. This wizarding world was turning out to be a lot better than they thought. They were actually enjoying the new culture. They were definitely excited to go to Hogwarts in a few weeks' time.

**xxx**

"Ouch! Ellie that was my foot!"

"Sorry! Merlin, this used to be a lot easier before we grew, didn't it?"

"We? You didn't grow so much, El." Hermione smirked. "Ouch! What'd you smack me for?"

"I did so grow! Now shush, they'll hear us."

Ellie and Hermione had followed the transfers into the pet store, and were now watching them purchase their pets from a safe distance. Ellie was certainly at a loss for how they used to fit all four of them underneath this thing, as her and Hermione were having difficulty with just the two of them.

Ryou was just finished paying. Ellie couldn't help but notice the slightly greedy look on his face when he paid for his (adorable, she couldn't help but notice) kitten in galleons. It reminded her of the look he had on his face the night he had pushed her. She quickly hissed this revelation in Hermione's ear.

Her friend's eyes narrowed, and she insisted on shuffling a few feet closer to get a better look.

Nothing else eventful happened until they were out of the pet shop. The girls followed at a safe distance, confusing many tired looking shoppers as they were shoved aside by some mysterious invisible force.

"Sorry!" Hermione called back to an elderly witch that she had just knocked over. She just looked even more confused as she brushed off her robes, squinting suspiciously 5 feet to their left.

"Shh! You can't apologize! We're invisible for a reason, Hermione!"

"Oh, right." She blushed, and the pushed forward. "Let's get closer, I can't hear them properly."

"At least they're not speaking Japanese anymore."

They followed the boys, who had come to a sudden halt in front of Knockturn Alley. They were arguing quietly.

"Aha!" Hermione whispered. "They _must _be up to something here."

"Shh!" Ellie hushed her again. They were close enough to hear Yugi now.

"What does he want now, Ryou?"

"He wants to go down there, I can barely hold him back."

"Who?" Ellie and Hermione whispered simultaneously to each other. They inched closer still. They were standing dangerously close to the group now, only about 4 feet from Malik's back.

"Why?" Whispered Malik. "What's so important down there?"

Ryou paused for a moment, and he looked as though he was deep in thought. Then a look of horror came over his face. "Dark magic. No! I can't- Yami, help!" He looked desperately at Yugi, who instantly took on a look of sheer menace on his face. His eyes flashed, and when Ellie looked back at Ryou, he had the exact same look he had the night he pushed her.

"Thief, let him be." Yugi's voice was much deeper.

"I do not wish to harm my hikari at the present time, Pharaoh." Ryou's voice was different, as well.

"Huh?" Hermione whispered, but before Ellie could express her confusions as well, Ryou took off.

"No! Bakura!" Yugi called after him, his voice lower still, presumably with anger. He and Malik gave chase to him immediately.

"Come on!" Ellie started running after them, dragging a reluctant Hermione behind her.

"Oh, no no no no, not Knockturn Alley! Do you even know who comes-"

"Oh, shush! We're invisible! Now hurry, we're going to lose them!"

It was certainly a lot harder to run under an invisibility cloak, but thankfully this street was considerably less crowded than Diagon Alley. Even though they were a lot further behind, the girls could see where their marks were heading.

The further in they ran, the sketchier their surroundings got. Soon they were the only ones in the alley, and the boys turned a corner so that they came to yet another side street, encased by tall brick walls.

Because the boys were around a corner, Ellie and Hermione missed what happened next, but it was loud and sounded violent. They heard a voice, that sounded scarily like Ryou's, bellow in rage.

The pair finally rounded the corner to see a very strange sight: Yugi and Malik were holding up strange gold objects that were . . .glowing. Yugi's was an upside down pyramid shaped thing on a heavy set chain. Malik's was a stick with an oddly shaped winged ball on top.

"Bloody hell. . ."

Ryou was kneeling in front of them, holding his head. He had an object similar to that of Yugi and Malik's hanging from around his neck. It was a ring with several spikes hanging from the edges, and there was a triangular symbol on the centre. His face was twisted into an expression of pain.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and another Ryou popped up out of nowhere.

Ellie gripped Hermione's arm, and gaped.

Hermione was speechless as well.

The new Ryou was slightly transparent, but this was most definitely the Ryou who had pushed Ellie and run off earlier. They were almost identical, the only difference was their eyes and their hair. The new Ryou's eyes were more angular, harsher, and his hair was spiked up menacingly. It was now clear that Ryou was being possessed by this darker being. And these objects that Yugi and Malik were holding out obviously had some sort of power as well, because they seemed to be keeping the evil Ryou at bay.

Taking in the strange scene in front of her, Ellie's eyes zeroed in on the ring around the evil Ryou's neck.

The grip that she had on Hermione's arm had gotten, if possible, even tighter.

"Hermione. . ."

"Shh! They're going to-"

"Hermione! I've . . .I've seen that symbol before."

"What?"

"That eye! On all of those gold trinkets . . . I've seen it before!"

And on that note, another Yugi appeared out of thin air, and they were all encased in a veil of darkness.

**xxx**

**Juicy cliffhanger for you guys. I hate/love them. And I can't help it, I need to keep y'all interested. **

*** - Egyptian name, meaning intelligence. I think. I didn't put much thought into this one, I just liked the name Akil. **

**** - Japanese for Bear. I thought it was amusingly ironic, considering how small the cat is. It sounds like something that Malik would do, no?**

**Can anybody guess where Ellie has seen the Eye of Horus before? I'll give you a hint, I've included it in this story somewhere before. **

**Love you guys! Please let me know what you think of my story so far! The pretty little review box is right down there!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! I felt bad for leaving you with a cliffhanger, so I figured I'd make a quick update today. This wasn't going to be a long chapter, but I kind of got carried away. Oops. I'm sure you don't mind, though. C; **

**I messed a little bit with the books in this one, just a warning. I do explain my reasoning in the end, though.**

**I own nothing! **

**ENJOY!**

**Chapter 12:**

"Hermione. . ."

"Shh! They're going to-"

"Hermione! I've . . .I've seen that symbol before."

"What?"

"That eye! On all of those gold trinkets . . . I've seen it before!"

And on that note, another Yugi appeared out of thin air, and they were all encased in a veil of darkness.

It seemed as though the shadows themselves were rushing at them, it looked like a solid wall. Ellie pulled Hermione in closer, terrified of it. Hermione buried her face in Ellie's chest, and Ellie buried hers in Hermione's hair. There was an instant pressure in her head, and she felt her knees go weak. Hermione must have felt the same way, because she collapsed alongside Ellie. They both fell down to their knees, completely dazed and weakened from the strange magic that Yugi's double seemed to have conjured up.

Amazingly, the invisibility cloak was still covering them both.

Ellie cautiously raised her head, and looked at her surroundings. She instantly wished that she hadn't.

In comparison to where she was now, the creepy dark side street of Knockturn Alley seemed positively welcoming.

They were in an empty void that went on forever, with shadows swirling in every direction. Billions of eyes were looking down at them, and even with the cloak covering them, Ellie felt very exposed. She pulled Hermione, who still hadn't raised her head from Ellie's chest, closer.

"Close your eyes. . ." She whispered to her friend, hoping to keep her from seeing what she was seeing. She realized her effort to be futile, though, because Hermione had slumped over in a dead faint before she had the chance to look around.

"Hermione! Hermione, come back to me, please . . ." Ellie sobbed quietly, clutching Hermione closer, and shaking her shoulders.. She did not want to face this abyss alone. But she still had her wits about her enough to know that she dare not alert the three boys in front of her of their presence.

This place was absolutely terrifying. Ellie swore that she could hear distant moans, and the longer she was in it, the weaker she felt. _This has to be the place where dementors come from,_ Ellie thought. The feelings were the same, zapped of all energy and happy emotions, leaving only weakness and despair.

She instantly forgot about the symbol.

She was kneeling about ten feet behind Yugi and Malik, who were facing Ryou from across a huge span of empty space. The doubles seemed to have taken over Yugi and Ryou's bodies, as they both had a menacing look in their eyes that the two sweet boys Ellie knew could never have achieved. Ellie instantly realized that it wasn't Ryou who pushed her that night.

They both had duel disks attached to their arms.

When she saw the dueling disks, the pressure in Ellie's head increased by tenfolds.

"Bakura, I will not allow you to risk my hikari's safety with your petty thievery. Our secret must not be exposed." Yugi said in his deep voice. "I challenge you to a duel."

The last thing that Ellie saw was the sick smile on Ryou's face before she blacked out and fell right on top of Hermione's slumped form.

**XXX**

"Ellie! Ellie! Wake up! ELLIE!"

Hermione's voice was the most unwelcome thing in the world to Ellie right at that moment, as her head was pounding and she felt as though she had just run a marathon. She groaned loudly.

"Oh, come on! Honestly! Ellie!" Hermione apparently had no sympathy for Ellie.

She opened her eyes, only to see her best friend's pale face hovering over her. Ellie instantly knew why Hermione had no sympathy for Ellie: she felt the exact same way that she did. Head pounding, heart racing, shaking like a leaf, and just wanting to roll over and sleep for a hundred years.

"R-Ryou. . . and Yugi. They . . . that. . .place, it was horrible 'mione. . ." Ellie was struggling to even form a coherent sentence.

"Sh, it's okay. We're here now. They're gone." Hermione said soothingly, putting a hand on her cheek. "The invisibility cloak hid us the whole time. They have no idea that we saw that."

"Oh." Was all that she could say. "You didn't see it, Hermione, you're lucky."

The pair both sat in silence for a few minutes, not knowing where to start.

"Oh, Merlin. . ." Ellie finally moaned, looking at her watch. "We were supposed to meet Moody and the others an hour ago!"

Hermione gasped, and ripped the invisibility cloak off of them. She stuffed it into Ellie's purse, and they both stood on shaky legs and ran as fast as they could towards Diagon Alley. They ran a lot slower than usual, though, as they had both just been out cold for hours.

Ellie couldn't believe it. Harry and Ron must be absolutely _frantic_ worrying about why they didn't make the meeting spot, and Moody would probably already have convinced everybody that they were dead already, or being tortured by Voldemort himself. Even if they did have Order members scouring the place for them, they never would have found them, as they were in a back alley with an invisibility cloak over them. Merlin knows that they had probably already given up looking for them in Diagon Alley.

She had been so stupid! The Order had all gone to so much trouble trying to _protect_ her, and she repays them by putting herself in a position of incredible danger. What if Ryou, Yugi or Malik had seen them? With their powers, and their terrifying other halves, they could have done any number of things to the both of them. Had anything happened, Hermione's fate would have been her fault, because it was her idea to follow them in the first place.

The anxiety and guilt in her stomach doubled, tripled, and quadrupled the more she thought about it.

As she was lost in her own mind, Ellie didn't realize when Hermione flung her arm out to stop her. Ellie doubled over, winded by the sudden blow to her stomach.

"Shh!" Hermione hushed her, yanking her into the shadows behind a rubbish bin. When Ellie didn't stop wheezing she slapped a hand over her mouth. "It's Lestrange and Malfoy!"

Ellie wrestled Hermione's hand away. "Lestrange?" She whispered, inching forwards so that she could see around the bin properly. Hermione yanked her back. "Isn't she supposed to be in Azkaban?"

"I thought so. But Ginny reckons she heard Lupin and Tonks talking about her escaping in July. But what is she doing out in the open?" Hermione mused, before pulling Ellie back once again. "Stop it! Are you trying to get caught?"

"Shh! I can't hear!" As the pounding in her head had not yet lessened to a reasonable level, Ellie had to strain her ears to catch the conversation being held between Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange.

She finally managed to stick her head around the corner in a discreet enough fashion to subdue Hermione's frantic efforts to pull her back. Ellie peered through the (smelly) pile of rubbish and saw a short, dark woman with black hair that was curly enough to rival her own. The woman could only be Bellatrix Lestrange. Azkaban had subdued her beauty, but there was still a fire in her eyes that made Ellie inch back into the hiding spot in which she came from. Lestrange was whispering urgently with the tall, pale Lucius Malfoy.

She and Hermione both pulled out their wands.

"You will place him under the Imperius Curse, Lucius. He is one of few who can actually obtain this prophecy. Our Master says that there is no excuse should you fail." She sneered intimidatingly at the much bigger man, making her seem as though she were the taller one.

"I will not fail. I have that fool in my pocket, I will-"

SNAP! Ellie whipped back into the shadows, looking frantically at Hermione. Her face was pale, her mouth opened in a silent gasp of horror. Hermione gestured to the discarded quill that she had stepped on. The resulting noise should have been quiet, _would _have been soundless had they not been in such a quiet atmosphere. But the lack of noise and the tall brick walls surrounding them only caused the tiny crack to sound like a gunshot.

"Shh! Lucius! I heard something."

"I just saw somebody behind that rubbish bin, Bella."

"REDUCTO!" Bellatrix's spell hit the bin that the two girls were hiding behind, and it quickly reduced itself to a small and insignificant pile of dust. There was nowhere left to hide, both girls were out in the open. Ellie stood up slowly, her shaking wand hand raised in front of her. To her right, Hermione mimicked her movements.

"Well, well, well!" Bellatrix cooed, a huge smile on her face. "What do we have here? Two little eavesdroppers?"

Malfoy's face did not show one speck of the amusement that was on his coconspirator's. "No, Bella. Friend's of the Potter boy's. Granger, isn't it? And," He raised his wand, and pointed it directly in Ellie's face. He finally cracked a smile. "Milton. Elizabeth Milton. The _mudbloods_."

"Both of them?" She giggled keenly, sounding for all the world like a young schoolgirl. "You don't say. Tell me girls, what brings you to Knockturn Alley?" She was inching closer to them, her smile getting wider and wider.

"School shopping." Ellie replied, her mouth dry as ash. _Nobody knew that they were here_. Hermione inched closer to her, and their arms brushed. With her friend closer, Ellie suddenly felt more confident. "What about you? What are _you_ doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Azkaban?"

Ellie felt more than heard Hermione gasp beside her.

The two Death Eaters sneered. "Shouldn't you be at home, with your _filthy muggle_ families?" Malfoy hissed, inching closer as well. Ellie raised her wand higher. Her hand was no longer shaking.

"How dare you," Bellatrix screeched at them. "Little girls should be seen and not heard."

"Ellie," Hermione hissed, sensing that this already dangerous meeting had taken a turn for the worse. "Let's go." She began pulling Ellie away, they were backing up the way that they had came, but being late for Moody was the least of their worries right now. Ellie reluctantly went with her, not turning her back to the Death Eaters.

"Oh, the wittle girls are scared," Bellatrix preened, cackling loudly, but staying where she was. Ellie made a move towards her again, but Hermione yanked her back again. "Oh, Merlin! Look at her, Lucius. Little Elizabeth thinks that she can fight me."

"It's Ellie." She snapped, completely resisting Hermione now. "Only my mother calls me Elizabeth."

"Of course dear," Bellatrix's grin became insanely wide, displaying almost all of her teeth. "But not for long. Your family will be the first to go. Just you wait, sweetie. I'll make their ears bleed with the sound of their own screams, they'll be _begging_ for deat-"

"Ellie!" Hermione screamed as Ellie suddenly lunged forwards. Luckily, Hermione was on her right side and had a firm grip on her wand hand, otherwise Ellie would have tried to curse them right then and there. "Stop it!"

"Aw! Look at wittle _Elizabeth_ trying to get to me, Lucius," Bellatrix went on, completely unfazed by Ellie's rage. "A shame." She sighed. "Such determination and fire was wasted on a mudblood."

"You act like bloodlines are such a big deal. Did your boss ever tell you that he's a half-blood himself?" Ellie gave a fruitless yank, trying to free herself from Hermione's grasp. _No one _threatened her family and got away with it. That wiped the smile off of Bellatrix's face. "Oh, so he didn't? Your pathetic _Voldemort _isn't as _pure_ as you thin-"

"YOU DARE?" Bellatrix shrieked, raising her wand higher. "YOU DARE INSULT THE DARK LORD? USE HIS NAME?" Her cheeks tinged red with rage, and she started towards Ellie. "I will teach you some respect, filthy mudblood! _Crucio!_"

Ellie screamed, and dropped out of Hermione's grasp. She had never had the Cruciatus Curse placed on her before, and this was a million times worse than she could have ever imagined. She reckoned even being burnt alive could not hurt this much. Ellie fell to her hands and knees once again, landing hard on the cobblestones, scraping her skin, not even feeling the pain of it through the curse.

Her agony did not last long though, as she heard her best friend instantly come to her defense behind her.

"_Expelliarmus!" _Hermione cried. Bellatrix did not lose her wand, but it at least distracted her enough to lift the curse off of Ellie. She screamed in fury, calling Hermione things that Ellie had never even heard before. Malfoy stepped forwards into the fray, and Ellie shakily got to her feet and raised her wand.

But before anymore spells could be sent, there were four loud cracks, and Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, and Lupin apparated into the middle of everybody.

Four stunning spells went flying for the two death eaters, but neither of them made their mark as there were two more cracks as they disapparated.

Moody cursed loudly, and then rounded on the two girls. "And what in Merlin's name are you two doing in here?" He demanded, stumping forwards and cupping Ellie's face in his grizzled hands. "Are you hurt, Milton?"

"No, sir." She mumbled, her gaze on the ground.

Her instantly rounded on Hermione. "Granger?"

"I'm fine, Professor." She replied quietly.

"Good." He grabbed both of their arms, and spun on the spot. Ellie had not been expecting this, and she would have fallen to the ground a third time had she not been feeling as if she were being forced through a tube, with the air being forced out of her lungs. Was this an after affect of the Cruciatus Curse?

Just when she thought that she couldn't hold out any longer without having more oxygen, her feet slammed onto the ground, and she did fall again. Looking up, Ellie realized that they were in front of the Order's Headquarters. They had just apparated!

"Up, Milton, up!" Moody grunted, grabbing her arm again and dragging her inside the house. Tonks, Kingsley and Lupin were all behind them, wands out and heads swiveling, keeping watch for any potential threats.

Hermione, Ellie noticed, was walking on her own. It seems that the Cruciatus Curse took a lot more out of her than she thought.

Once they were all in, the door slammed ominously behind them. Moody finally let go of her arm, and Ellie would have fallen once again from sheer exhaustion had Tonks not taken pity on her and put an arm around her waist.

"Kitchen. Now." Moody snapped, waving them through.

"Hermione!"

"Ellie!"

Just before they walked into the kitchen, the girls heard their names being screamed from the landings, and eight pairs of feet pounding down the stairs. Ellie tried to give them a grin to reassure them, but it only came out as a grimace and probably only made things worse.

It seemed that all three transfers had made it back safely, and there was no sign of the magic that they had used to bring Ellie and Hermione to that . . . _place._

Mr. Weasley asked them all to stay behind while they were questioned.

Ellie knew the only reason that Harry and Ron chose to stay back without a fight was because they knew that Ellie and Hermione would fill them in later, and probably give them more details than they gave the Order.

The door behind them clicked ominously as it was shut, successfully separating Ellie and Hermione from the rest of their friends.

"Oh, girls!" Mrs. Weasley ran forwards, taking Ellie from Tonks and squeezing her and Hermione in a big hug. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"We're fine," Ellie replied, allowing Mrs. Weasley to guide her to a chair. She noticed, with a small smile, a handful of fleshy strings wiggling their way under the door. Nobody else saw what she did.

"Ellie is not fine," Hermione interjected bossily. "Lestrange used the Cruciatus Curse on her."

Mrs. Weasley gasped, and immediately began brewing a strong pot of tea for her. "You poor dear!"

Sirius suddenly came bursting into the room. "Where are they?" He looked around wildly, his eyes landing on Hermione, who was standing next to Ellie's chair. He hurried over, and pulled Hermione into a hug. He released her, guided her to a chair next to Ellie, and he immediately took up a post behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders protectively.

"What the _hell_ were you two doing down Knockturn Alley?" He demanded, squeezing Ellie's shoulders hard.

Ellie didn't know how to answer. They couldn't tell them the _truth,_ they would never believe them! She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, desperately searching for something to say.

"We followed them. We, well, I saw Malfoy turn into Knockturn Alley. I wanted to follow him. It's my fault." Hermione said, hanging her head quite convincingly. Ellie's jaw dropped. Hermione was taking the blame? And lying? She desperately wanted to argue and take the blame away from Hermione, but she knew that if they changed the story it would look suspicious, especially to all of the aurors trained to detect a lie.

And, when Ellie thought about it some more, she realized a little too late what Hermione had already thought of. The three transfers were out there listening at the door with Harry, Ron, the twins and Ginny. They couldn't know that Ellie and Hermione had seen their magic. Who knows what they would do to protect their secret?

"You mean to tell me," Lupin asked from his perch across the room, "That you two followed a _known_ death eater into Knockturn Alley, of all places?"

"Yes," Hermione stuck her chin out defiantly.

"Why?"

"I wanted to hear what he was planning." Ellie jumped in. She finally looked up from her scraped and bleeding hands to meet Lupin's eyes. Sirius' hands on her shoulder's gave her courage. "We all know Malfoy wouldn't risk getting caught in Knockturn Alley without a good reason."

"So?" Kingsley, every the strong silent one, finally jumped in. "What did you hear?"

Ellie and Hermione looked at each other. "They're, well, he. . Voldemort wants Malfoy to imperius someone to get a. . ." Ellie looked at Hermione.

"To get a prophecy." Hermione reached over and took Ellie's hand. "She said that there was no excuse for him to fail."

Everyone in the room looked shocked. A lot of the adults exchanged worried glances that told Ellie that they knew something about the prophecy.

"And then what?" Mr. Weasley said shakily, finally breaking the silence.

"Then Ellie tried to take on Lestr-"

"And I could have taken her if you weren't holding me ba-"

"If I hadn't of held you back you would have gotten killed!"

"She was threatening my family!"

"If you used magic again, the Ministry would know!" Hermione fired back hotly. "It's bad enough that I had to use a disarming spell to throw her off. I hope that they don't find out. . "

"They won't, Hermione." Lupin smiled at her reassuringly. "They can't detect one single underage disarming spell in a wizarding area." He rounded on Ellie. "You, however, better not have used a single spell. You can _bet _that they will be checking your wand at your trial."

Ellie smiled sadly, and looked at Hermione. "I'm sorry. Thank you for holding me back."

Hermione smiled back, but there was a look in her eyes that said that they needed to talk.

Ellie instantly remembered the symbol on Yugi, Malik and Ryou's strange items. And her heart sunk. She remembered the symbol, but not where she had seen it. With all of the excitement today, Ellie completely forgot that she had no idea where she had seen it before.

Mrs. Weasley slid a hot meal in front of both of them, along with their tea.

"Eat up, dears. You'll feel right as rain by the morning."

Sirius let out a loud laugh from behind Ellie, making her jump. "Yeah, you'd better hope so. We're tackling the _basement_ tomorrow."

**xxx**

**You would think, that in the Shadow Realm, that Ellie and Hermione would be revealed. Well, at least I think that they would be. Not really sure how it works with invisibility cloaks, especially this very 'special' invisibility cloak. Anyways, my point is, theoretically, they should have been revealed. However, for the purposes of this story, they weren't. We can't have all these secrets out already! They're not even at Hogwarts yet.**

**Also, another author twist: Lestrange is out of Azkaban! Harry + co. know who she is already. They don't however, know that it was Neville's parents that she tortured (well, Harry does). They just know that she tortured some random couple, got sent to Azkaban, and is one of Voldemort's most loyal supporters. Also, for the purposes of this story, she broke out of Azkaban soon after Voldemort came back. It was obviously not publicized by the prophet, but the Order knows about it. (This actually will have some significance later on. I'm not just twisting canon for the hell of it.)**

**And about the Eye of Horus. You guys really thought that I'd tell you where Ellie's seen it before already? Come on, I wouldn't have a story if I let out all my secrets now. C;**

**I hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! Another early update for you. You guys are spoiled. You really are. XD**

**Big hugs, once again, to my girl The Amber Raven for talking to me once again for hours today, going over my plot and working out even more kinks. I swear, half of my story should be credited to her. Thanks babe! :3**

**So, on another note, I would like to say this. As the transfers have been living in the wizarding world for a fair amount of time, and they have been studying magic, I think that it's only fair to assume that they now have a reasonably extensive knowledge of magical terms. Therefore, I did not waste my time having them constantly asking what things are and who people are in this chapter. If they don't ask, then assume that they already know from prior experiences.**

**Harry Potter isn't mine, neither is Yu-Gi-Oh. I would love to be able to take credit for both of those amazing pieces of literature, but alas, I cannot. I suppose I'll just settle for fanfic. :C**

**Chapter 13**

"We're going to be late!" Yugi told his friends anxiously, checking his watch.

Ryou didn't want to hurry. His head still hurt from losing the Shadow Game. Bakura had _just_ lost to Yami. He was now sulking quietly in his soul room.

Ryou had to say that he wasn't displeased. When they passed the sign that read "Knockturn Alley" and pointed into the darkness, Bakura had instantly tried to take over and rush in. They had both sensed the dark magic emanating out of it. Whereas Ryou wanted to steer clear of it, Bakura just _had_ to take over and bolt in. Ryou was just glad Yugi and Malik were there to stop him from doing anything too stupid.

Ellie and her friends already didn't trust him, the last thing he wanted was for them to see him rushing into the very place that Moody specifically warned them to steer clear of.

Ryou clutched Shu closer to his chest, and with a sigh he hurried after Yugi and Malik. They were supposed to be meeting Moody and the others at 6, and it was five minutes to.

The crowd in Diagon Alley had thinned considerably as the shops began closing up, which made it easier for the trio to move freely towards the ice cream shop where they were meeting.

They finally made it with little time to spare. Everybody except Ellie and Hermione were already there, chatting happily amongst themselves and showing each other their purchases.

"Ooooh! Those are the most adorable kittens I've ever seen!" Ginny squealed, thrusting her things into a disgruntled looking Ron's hands and rushing over. "Can I hold her?" She asked Ryou, wisely choosing to steer clear of Malik's Kuma, who was at the moment trying to scratch his master's face off.

"Of course," Ryou reluctantly handed his sleeping cat over to the redhead, who cooed and petted her head happily. "Her name is Shu."

Ginny nodded happily, but did not ask the meaning of the name. Ryou was grateful for that, and he waited until Ginny was finally finished with his cat and moved on to gush over Kuma (from a safe distance).

"Ryou," Yugi quietly muttered to him, pulling him a few feet aside. "About that duel. . ." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Ryou smiled happily. "It's alright, Yugi. What happens between our yamis should in no way affect our friendship. There's no need to apologize."

Yugi smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you Ryou." Yugi checked his watch again, and they looked around at the group, which Ryou noticed was getting slightly tense. "The girl's aren't back yet. . ."

Ryou grabbed Yugi's wrist and looked at his watch. It was ten minutes after. They were supposed to be here ten minutes ago! A small flicker of worry quickly tickled in Ryou's stomach,

"Boys," Moody called them over gruffly, his mangled face looking even more so with lines of worry overlapping his scars. "Have either of you seen Hermione or Ellie recently?"

They both shook their heads. "Not since we split up when we first got here," Yugi said.

"Has anybody seen them since we left Madame Malkin's?" Ron asked, his face looking slightly guilty.

Heads shook no all round.

"Those girls know not to be late in these times," Mrs. Weasley piped in, her arm around Ginny's shoulders. "I think we ought to call for backup."

Moody nodded. "It's too dangerous for us to be standing here waiting. It's getting dark. Here," He pulled a rusty old candlestick from his robes pocket. "Molly, take the kids back to headquarters. Send for backup. I'll wait here in case they decide to show up."

-What? He wants us to just leave them?-

-It would seem so.- Bakura replied crossly, still in a bad mood from losing earlier.

"What?" Harry yelped.

"No!" Ron cried. They both echoed Ryou's thoughts.

"If you think that we're going to leave our friends here, while we get back to safe-"

"Yes, Potter! That's exactly what I think!" Moody interrupted. "If _you_ think two teenage boys can do what any number of fully qualified aurors can't, then I am sorry to say that you are very wrong! I'm sure that those girls would be very upset if you were to get hurt trying to save them whilst they have a perfectly good rescue team on their way. Now take this portkey and go."

The two boys were clearly not happy, but they grabbed hold nonetheless. The twins, Ginny, the transfers and Mrs. Weasley all grabbed hold as well. With a bad feeling in his stomach, Ryou allowed the portkey to take him away to Grimmauld Place.

They landed hard, most falling flat on their backs because of the sheer number of them holding on to the little tiny candlestick. They landed in a heap, which Mrs. Weasley quickly prompted them out of, and ushered them into the house.

"Arthur! ARTHUR!" She yelled, apparently forgetting her husband was out on duty. She ran into the kitchen. "Remus? Kingsley? Ah, Nymphadora you're back!"

"Molly! What's wrong?" Sirius had evidently heard all of the commotion, and had come running.

"Hermione and Ellie have gone missing!"

Sirius went deathly pale and guided her into the kitchen.

Ryou and the others followed them, standing in a corner trying very hard not to be seen, knowing that they could be kicked out at any given moment.

Once everyone was assembled in the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley quickly explained what had gone wrong.

Sirius jumped up. "I'm going."

"NO!" The room collectively chorused. Even Ryou and the other transfers knew that he was a wrongly wanted man, and there would be dire consequences if he was caught.

"I care about them too! If I was to change, that is, if I was to turn into 'Snuffles', then nobody-"

"Wormtail knows that you're an animagus, Sirius." Harry said. "He's bound to have told Voldemort," everyone flinched. "Your disguise is useless."

They argued for a few moments more, until Fred pointed out that them arguing was only wasting time.

Eventually, Sirius and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were all nominated to stay home and watch headquarters. (Ryou suspected Kingsley wanted the extra manpower left behind to keep an eye on Sirius, Ron and Harry).

Everyone followed Tonks, Lupin and Kingsley to the foyer, and watched as they rushed out the front door, quickly apparating out of sight.

Thus began their long wait. The group trudged back into the kitchen, sitting around the table and saying nothing. It seemed that Mrs. Weasley soon became sick of their company, as she ordered them all up to bed.

"But it's only 7:00, Mu-" George argued.

"Do not argue with your mother!" Mr. Weasley snapped. "Go! We will come and get you if anything goes wrong."

"Hasn't the worst already gone wrong?" Malik muttered, earning him a smack upside the head from Ginny.

The eight of them trudged up the stairs, as slowly and quietly as they could, trying to hear snippets of conversation from the adults.

"Where could they be?"

"Death Eaters all over the place-"

"Worried sick-"

"I want to help-"

"Merlin knows where they are-"

"GET UPSTAIRS NOW!" Mrs. Weasley screamed at them.

They all jumped from the difference in noise level from the conversation that they were eavesdropping on, and they hurried up to the landing. Of course none of them went to their rooms, they remained seated behind the railing, waiting for news of their two missing friends.

The tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Ryou's stomach continually clenched and unclenched with nerves. He thought back to their shadow game.

-Koe, what if they were nearby?-

-They weren't.-

-How do you know?-

-We would have seen them. You cannot hide in the Shadow Realm.-

-But what if. . ? -

-You think too much.-

This did not settle Ryou's nerves one bit. The testy attitude of his yami only served to stretch them tighter, leaving him feeling as though one slight gust of wind could take him out.

Ryou looked over at his fellow transfers, and it was clearly written on their faces that they were also worried that somehow the girls had been caught in their Shadow Game. Ryou wished that they could talk in private, but he did not dare leave. It would look too suspicious, as Ron and Harry were already starting to whisper to each other and eye them accusingly again.

Finally, finally, after what seemed like hours more of waiting, the door banged open. The anxious group jumped to their feet and peered over the railing.

What Ryou saw made his heart sink.

Ellie was being dragged in by Moody, and when he let go of her it was evident that she was too weak to stand alone. Tonks wrapped an arm around her waist and supported her as they trekked into the kitchen. Hermione was in slightly better shape, she could walk at least, but her fatigue was obvious.

"Ellie!" Ryou called, at the same time that every other member of the group called to either her or Hermione. The girls looked up. Hermione gave a small smile and a half-hearted wave, while Ellie grimaced in what looked like pain. Ryou's heart clenched again.

The eight of them ran down the stairs, only to have the kitchen door slammed into their faces.

"Damnit!" Ron cursed, slapping his hand against the locked door.

"Pity," Said Fred.

"Damn shame." George continued. "Too bad we can't eavesdrop." He held up a handful of extendable ears. Ryou could have hugged them.

They each grabbed one and stuck them under the door, which thankfully had not been imperviused.

"Listen!" Ginny whispered.

"Oh, girls! What happened? Are you alright?"

"We're fine." Said Ellie's voice.

"Ellie is not fine. Lestrange used the Cruciatus Curse on her."

A collective gasp came from both inside the room and out. Ryou heard Harry growl in the back of his throat.

"What's the Cruciatus Curse?" Yugi asked him.

"It's torture. It inflicts unbearable pain upon it's victim." Harry replied murderously. "I will _kill _Lestrange."

Ryou felt an unbridled anger rise up in him upon hearing this as well. -Not if I get to her first.-

Bakura, strangely, did not have a rude remark to this. His silence almost sounded like an agreement.

The group quieted down, seething, and listened to the rest of the story.

Sirius's voice came flitting through the earpiece, asking what the girls were doing down Knockturn Alley. At this, Ryou's ears filled with a loud buzzing noise, and he got slightly dizzy. _They were down Knockturn Alley? _His heart pounded.

He didn't even hear the next bit of the conversation, he was too immersed in his own thoughts. He locked eyes with Yugi, who looked as worried as him. _They couldn't have been there. . ._

He finally got ahold of himself, and listened to the rest of the conversation. Their excuse for being down Knockturn Alley was that they had followed a Death Eater, but Ryou didn't buy it. Hermione and Ellie were both very smart girls, and neither of them had the stupidity in them to do the likes of that.

Malik and Yugi were both staring at him with narrowed eyes, he realized. It seemed that neither of them believed Ellie's excuse either.

**XXX**

Ellie and Hermione finished their food quickly, and after their initial interrogation, pretty silently. Mrs. Weasley was still forbidding their friends to enter the kitchen.

Ellie could hear them whining out in the hall, and begging to be let in and it put a small smile on her face to know that her friends cared so much.

When the pair finished their stew and tea, Mrs. Weasley cleared their dishes with a quick wave of her wand. "Bed!" She commanded simply. Ellie stood up slowly, still very wobbly, but feeling much better after consuming some food.

Mrs. Weasley apparently didn't think that Ellie was fit to walk, because she grabbed her by the waist and supported her weight before pulling her out the door. At first she wanted to argue, but when she looked at the multiple flights of stairs Ellie held her tongue.

"Ellie!" Ron and Harry cried, rushing forwards with pale faces. "Are you alright?" Harry asked. The transfers, the twins and Ginny were all hovering anxiously in behind them. Hermione came through the door next, dragging her feet and hanging her head in a very un-Hermione-ish fashion.

"Hermione!" Ron yelped when she walked through the door, his voice cracking slightly on the last syllable. Her head snapped up when she heard Ron's voice, though, and Hermione gave the smallest of smiles.

"They are fine! These girls need sleep, and I absolutely forbid any of you from asking them any questions until morning!" She snapped, plowing through the small crowd, dragging Hermione with her free hand. "Ginny dear, you father is on duty so you'll be staying with me tonight. I want these two to be able to rest." Her eyes flashed, and it was obvious to all present that she didn't trust her daughter to let them sleep uninterrupted.

"But, Mum!" Ginny whined, clearly disgruntled that she couldn't get answers tonight.

"No buts! Now come on, you two." She pulled them up the stairs. Ellie turned her head and gave a curious glance over her shoulder to see what the transfers were up to. They were huddled together, whispering. _Did they know?_

Before Ellie could explore the issue further, they turned the corner and the transfers were out of sight.

Mrs. Weasley ushered them into their room and fussed over them for a good five minutes, not even allowing Ellie to undress by herself. She helped Ellie into her nightdress, folded her clothes neatly, set her glasses on the bed stand, and tucked her in.

"Mrs. Weasley, you really don't have to do this," Ellie mumbled embarrassedly from the bonds that her tightly tucked in sheets were creating. "I am fine."

Hermione smirked from across the room and independently climbed into her own bed.

"It's alright, dear. I don't mind." Mrs. Weasley was sitting on the edge of the bed, smoothing Ellie's curls back. "I can whip up some dreamless sleep potion, if you'd like."

Ellie wished that she would go, and let the girls talk, but didn't have the heart to say so. "No, Mrs. Weasley I am fine. I can't run away from what happened."

"Alright, dear." She stood up, gave Ellie one last pat on the cheek and went to tuck Hermione in. It was Ellie's turn to smirk at her friend behind Mrs. Weasley's back.

With a stern warning to go to sleep, and not to talk, she finally turned the lights out and closed the door behind her.

"Oh, finally!" Hermione said impatiently, standing up and wrapping her red dressing gown around herself. Ellie sat up, and watched as her friend began pacing. "Do you want to talk now, or do you want to wait until Harry and Ro-"

She was interrupted by a quiet knock at the door. Ellie chuckled quietly, and put her glasses on.

Ron poked his head in, hands over his eyes. "Are you decent?"

"Of course, Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes.

The two boys slipped in the door, closing it noiselessly behind them.

"You two had better hurry up, I expect your mother will be checking on you soon."

"Nah, she went to bed. And Dad is on guard duty. We're safe."

Harry walked over to Ellie and placed a hand on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

Ellie sighed. "I'm fine. Please stop asking." She gently pushed Harry's hand away.

He gave her another worried glance, before sitting down on the edge of her bed. Ron pulled a chair up, and Hermione sat cross legged by her feet.

"There's something that we need to tell you guys." Ellie finally said. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

She and Hermione looked at each other, both willing the other to start. Ron and Harry waited expectantly.

Hermione finally sighed, giving in. "Fine. First off, we stole your invisibility cloak, Harry."

He gave a slight gasp of surprise, not expecting to hear that. But Ellie jumped in before he could respond. "We didn't steal it, we _borrowed_ it." She reached over and picked up her purse, unzipping it and pulling out the silvery cloak. She tossed it onto Harry's lap. "Sorry." She said, and buried her face in her knees.

"Why?" Ron asked dryly.

"To follow the transfers, of course." Hermione replied confidently.

Ron and Harry looked livid. "You went after them _alone?_" Harry demanded, standing up and towering above them.

"Is it really that much worse than following a death eater into Knockturn Alley?" Ellie asked, raising her head. "I know you were listening earlier." Harry and Ron did not look one bit ashamed. "Besides, Harry couldn't have gotten away from Moody."

"You could have taken me, then!" Ron said hotly.

"That would have looked too suspicious! Moody was the best auror around, he isn't an idiot." Ellie shot back.

"Look, we know that you two are angry," Hermione said calmly. Her voice was steady, but her hands betrayed her anxiety, as they were tugging and twisting at the skirt of her dressing gown. "But wouldn't you rather hear what we saw?"

The boys nodded eagerly, and Hermione launched into the tale of how they had followed the transfers into the pet store, and then into Knockturn Alley. She told them how they had summoned a great wall of darkness, and transported them to that awful place. Ellie jumped in at this point to describe the void, as Hermione had been unconscious. The story then led to them waking up alone, and the confrontation with Malfoy and Lestrange. Ron made an angry noise in the back of his throat upon hearing of her threats to Ellie's family, but he held his tongue.

Harry, who had at this point pulled up a chair, shook his head doubtfully. "I can't believe that they didn't kill you." He said simply.

"I suspect that they were trying to lay low. It would be hard for the Prophet to explain the bodies of Harry Potter's best friends at the same time that they're saying you are an attention seeker that is making the whole thing up." Hermione replied.

"You didn't say anything about the transfers," Ellie said quietly.

"I do not trust them one bit." Harry said firmly. "If what you said is true, about them being controlled by darker versions of themselves, then we must be careful. You said that Yugi's possessor was protecting Ryou?"

Ellie nodded slowly.

"Then it seems that there is only one truly evil spirit there. Unless Malik is harboring one as well."

"And the things they used to conjure the. . .darkness?" Ron asked. "You said that you recognized the symbol on it? What did it look like?"

"It was an eye." Ellie told him. Ron got up and brought her some parchment and quills out of the bag of supplies they had gotten today. He handed it to her, and Ellie drew it.

"I've seen it before, I'm positive." She told them, and signed sadly. "I just wish that I could remember _where._"

"This looks Egyptian." Ron said, leaning in closer to examine the eye. "You know, I could ask Bill."

Hermione looked thoughtful, then nodded slowly. "Yes, that is a good idea. But be very careful, make sure that they don't overhear you."

"And don't tell him where you saw it!" Ellie interjected anxiously.

"Alright, keep your knickers on," Ron shot back.

When the conversation lulled, Ellie tried to cover a big yawn behind her knees.

"Time for you to go to bed." Hermione said. She gave Ron and Harry pointed looks.

"I'm fine!" Ellie said hotly. "_You're_ the one that needs sleep, Hermione."

The boys laughed, but took the hint. They slipped out the door. Hermione climbed into her own bed, and said goodnight.

As soon as Ellie's head hit the pillow, she was out like a light. She didn't even have the chance to take off her glasses.

**XXX**

**MALIK'S POV**

SLAM.

"Ryou, are you-"

"I'm fine." After slamming the door, Ryou stalked over to his bed and quickly began undressing. Malik noticed that he wasn't meeting anybody's eyes.

"If this is about Ellie-" Malik began. It was obvious that Ryou liked her. Well, it was obvious to his friends.

"It's not!" Ryou snapped. The lie in his voice was obvious. Malik simply raised an eyebrow at his friend and jumped onto his own bed, lounging with his hands behind his head. He was worried about Ryou. Malik understood what it was like to have a completely deranged yami, but at least he was fortunate enough to have been able to contain him. And poor Ryou had to deal with Bakura on top of trying to impress a pretty girl.

Poor guy.

Malik decided to humor his friend, at least for now. "Okay, if it's not about Ellie, then what's got your knickers in a twist?" He mimicked something that he heard all of the Weasley boys say at least once.

Ryou groaned, and flopped down onto his own bed. He didn't answer.

"Ryou," Yugi began, "I am, I mean Yami is sorry if he made Bakura mad." Yugi seemed to be under the impression that Bakura was having a go at Ryou because of his loss.

Apparently this wasn't the case, as said evil spirit phased out at that moment. "Do you think that I am petty enough to hold my own loss against my hikari?" He yelled at Yugi. "Stupid shrimp."

"Enough!" Yami phased out. "You will not insult my hikari, Tomb Robber!"

Malik rolled his eyes and tuned out the childish bickering of the yamis. Honestly, they were like an old married couple. He was just glad that he didn't have to deal with his yami anymore.

An angry twinge from said yami reminded him that this wasn't completely true, as he was still present. Present, and aware enough to know that he was very much unwanted, especially since Malik had made friends without him. Marik did not like this one bit, as he was very possessive.

"Guys," Malik eventually said, trying to shut up Yami and Bakura. "GUYS!" He yelled when they didn't listen. They shut up this time.

"Shouldn't we be discussing, you know, the shadow game? And whether or not Ellie and Hermione saw?" He was almost positive that they had saw, and he _was_ positive that they had followed them into Knockturn Alley.

This finally got the dejected Ryou's attention, as he sat up and fixed Malik with a curious stare. "There's no way they didn't see." Malik told him.

Bakura, who had moved to sit next to his hikari on the bed, scoffed. "Oh, please. We would have detected them. The Shadow Realm reveals all."

Yugi shook his head. "No, not necessarily. There are a lot of things in this world that we do not understand. There is a big possibility that they had a way to disguise themselves."

"I do not think that they would have intentionally followed us into the Shadow Realm." Yami said. "If they were there, it would have been by accident."

"I don't trust them one bit." Malik cut in. "Those girls had no business in Knockturn Alley-"

"You don't know that they were following us!" Ryou interrupted. "I don't believe that they followed that death eater in there, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they were watching us!" He took a deep breath. "They were found almost two hours after our duel. The chances of them being there for that are very slim."

"But they're not eliminated entirely." Malik said. There was no doubt in his mind that those nosy girls had been following them. A wave of fresh anger flowed through him. "Then they met those death eaters in there, who's to say that they weren't leading them to us?"

"Dumbledore trusts them. And he wants us to do the same." Yami said carefully, eyeing Malik with his poker face firmly planted.

"That death eater, Lestrange, _tortured_ Ellie." Ryou said quietly, something that resembled anger flashing in his eyes. "I don't think that they would have met them on purpose. They're not stupid."

"Whatever." Malik sighed, and stood up. He pulled off his shirt, opened the door, and trekked down the hall and into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He could hear them talking from outside the bathroom door, but he could not make out what they were saying over the sound of water gushing from the tap.

When he was finished, Malik looked into the mirror to make sure he didn't have any toothpaste left on his face. What he saw made him gasp and jump back. He dropped his toothbrush and stared. For a tenth of a second, he could have sworn that he was looking at his yami's reflection, smiling evilly back at him.

"No," He whispered. Malik took a step forwards, and placed his nose about an inch away from the mirror. He was close enough to steam it up, but there was no mistaking it, even through the fog it was his own reflection staring back at him. Placing a hand over his racing heart, Malik picked up his toothbrush and opened the door to go back to his bedroom.

Walking out of Ellie and Hermione's bedroom were Harry and Ron, both looking anxious.

They saw him at the same time that he saw them, and the three boys stopped dead. Harry and Ron because they knew that they were caught, and Malik because he didn't want to turn around and let them see the scars on his back.

The look on their faces plainly said that they knew something, and Malik didn't even bother trying to be friendly. He just stared them down until they passed, and waited for the sound of their door closing before he left his perch and raced back into his room. _That was close, _he thought. They had almost seen his scars.

Yugi and Ryou clearly didn't care about their secrets being revealed, but Malik certainly wanted to keep his.

**XXX**

**Not much to say here, I'm afraid. **

**Just that I can't believe that they're still not at Hogwarts.!This story is ruling me, not the other way around. I want your guys' opinions, should I write the trial? It won't be any different, only that Ellie would be there.**

**If you all say no, you don't want the trial, I will probably send them to Hogwarts in the next chapter. Sound good?**

**Let me know!**

**Thanks guys! **


	14. Chapter 14

**Woohoo! FINALLY off to Hogwarts! You don't understand how glad I am to be finally writing this chapter. I am so ready to be leaving Grimmauld Place behind.**

**There is a little bit of violence in this chapter. No blood, just Bakura drawing his knives in a fight. I'm not sure if this qualifies this story as rated T, but I am going to change the rating just in case. **

**I own neither Harry Potter or Yu-Gi-Oh !**

**Enjoy, my friends! **

**Chapter 14**

Ellie was falling, falling, falling through an endless abyss of black, with millions of eyes staring at her, watching her, unblinking, seeing everything. The eyes watched as she screamed helplessly, groping in the darkness for _anything_ to slow her descent. She felt as though she had been falling for hours, though she can't remember when she began, and she certainly had no idea when it would stop.

A high, cold merciless laugh reached her ears, and although it was a terrifying sound, it was a relief to hear something besides the constant whoosh of air in her ears and her own screams.

Ellie twisted her body around, trying to see where the laughter was coming from, and in the process she ended up falling face first, and she could finally see the end of her descent. It was a golden eye, the same symbol that had been on the golden trinkets that all the transfers held.

At first the eye seemed small, but as she hurdled closer the eye got bigger and bigger, until it was several times wider that Ellie was tall.

She screamed even louder, realizing that she was heading straight for the pupil of the eye. She tried to turn, so she wouldn't land headfirst, but something was stopping her, she couldn't turn, and the eye was drawing nearer and nearer, she was feet away, inches away. . .

Ellie sat bolt upright in her bed, her fist in her mouth to stifle a scream. The image of the eye was still burning in her vision. Her other hand frantically searched for her chest, where she pressed it flat against her heart, trying to settle the intense beating. She uncovered her mouth, and gasped for breath.

She had lost count of how many times she had dreamt this dream ever since witnessing the transfers' powers in Knockturn Alley.

The room was dark, but the edges of the curtains were a fuzzy grey, suggesting that it was almost morning. Due to experience, Ellie knew that once she woke from this dream there was no chance that she would fall back asleep, so she slipped out of bed and dressed as quietly as she could, as not to wake her roommates.

Rubbing her eyes and attempting to shake off the dream, she made her way down to the kitchen, dodging all of the trunks packed and ready to leave by the front door. Today was September the first, and they would be leaving for the train station in a matter of hours.

Ellie pushed open the door to the kitchen, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it's huddled and whispering occupants.

"Oh, I'm sorry. . .I'll just-"

"No!" Ryou said quickly. "It's fine. You can stay." He quickly pushed his chair back, giving some space between him and Yugi and Malik. It was obvious that Ellie had walked in on a private conversation.

"Okay." Nervously, Ellie walked in and made her way over to pour herself some orange juice. Over the past few weeks, the transfers and Ellie and her friends have been seriously wary of each other. They had made no move to hurt anybody, and there certainly hasn't been anymore suspicious behavior on their part. But Ellie unconsciously rubbed the spot where she had bumped her head, remembering that she still couldn't trust them. Her friends would kill her if they knew that she was alone in the kitchen with them.

But it would be rude to leave now.

"Couldn't sleep?" Asked Yugi cheerily as Ellie took a seat at the table, close enough not be considered rude, but still a safe distance away. Yugi was the one that Ellie trusted the most. Even though the tension between the two groups was almost painful, Yugi acted as though it never existed. It was clear where his allegiances lay, but he never acted as such.

"No. Not really." Ellie couldn't help but give him a small smile back. "How about you guys? Early risers?"

"Nervous," Yugi replied, to the dismay of Malik, who gave him a dirty look for admitting this. "You know, first day and all."

"You will be fine. You're almost all caught up, Hermione told me that you all whizzed through the rest of that review pack." To Ron's chagrin, Hermione had still helped the three with their homework.

"Malik's worried about the sorting." Ryou jumped in, earning himself a smack upside the head from Malik.

"I am not!" He snapped.

"How does it work again?" Ryou asked her, ignoring his angry friend.

"Well, there are four houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Ellie went on to explain the characteristics of each house. "I almost got put into Hufflepuff, but in the end I guess I'm more suited for Gryffindor. Actually, everyone staying here that goes to school is a Gryffindor as well." She took off her glasses, and nervously began fiddling with them. She hadn't forgotten that she was supposed to be careful around these boys, but under different circumstances, Ellie thought that they could be good friends. They were easy to talk to, and they reminded her a lot of herself and her friends.

"You said that most Death Eaters come out of Slytherin?" Malik asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"Yeah." Ellie put her glasses back on and studied him.

"And they are all are cunning, resourceful and ambitious?" He pressed.

"For the most part, yes. Why?"

"Just wondering." He replied lamely. "And Gryffindor's traits are courage and loyalty?"

"Yes. Are you alright, Malik?" Ellie asked. It was obvious that he thought that he was going into Slytherin, and his friends in Gryffindor. Ellie noted not to tell Ron this, as he instantly associated Slytherin with evil.

"I'm fine." He said unconvincingly. "How do they choose?"

Ellie shifted uncomfortably, knowing that they wouldn't like this.. "A hat. A talking hat. When you put it on your head, it looks into your mind and then chooses based on what's inside."

The three of them all looked at each other, communicating wordlessly. Ellie figured that they were worried the hat would see inside their heads and reveal their secrets. Personally, she hoped that it would.

Still sensing Malik's discomfort, Ellie chimed in again. "Of course, Slytherin isn't that bad of a house, Malik." His head snapped up, and he fixed his eyes on her. "It's given a bad reputation because Voldemort himself came out of it, and a good chunk of his followers as well. But, you know, Merlin himself was in Slytherin."

Malik still didn't look convinced. "But say you really didn't want to be in a certain house, if you hated it so-"

"The decision is final." Ellie shook her head. "I haven't heard of a single case where someone was allowed to swap houses. But the sorting hat is always right." The dejected look on Malik's face made her heart sink a little bit. She knew he was dangerous, and potentially evil, but she couldn't stand to see him like that. "Malik," She said, making him lift his gaze from his folded hands on the table to her. "You know, it's your choices that make you who you are. Not the hat. The Sorting Hat wanted to put Harry into Slytherin, but he asked it not to. So he ended up in Gryffindor, with his friends."

Malik's face broke into a smile, the likes of which Ellie hadn't seen since the first day he had gotten here. "Really?"

"Yes." Looking around at the other two boys, Ellie saw that they were both smiling as well. It turns out that all they wanted was to be together, Ellie thought. She smiled right back at them. "Look, I've got to go finish packing. I'll see you lot later."

**XXX**

**YAMI POV**

"I don't want to be put into Slytherin!" Malik whined _again_, frantically packing his trunk. He was the last one of his roommates to pack. Yugi and Yami sat side by side on his bed, watching them amusedly.

"Then ask it not to put you in Slytherin." Bakura, who had been spending a lot more time phased out than usual, chimed in. "The girl said that Potter did it, so why can't you?"

Malik did not dignify this with an answer, Yami noticed. He did not know how he felt about the Tomb Robber's increased presence, but at least he trusted him enough to let down his guard. Bakura's violent nature had lessened even more so after his loss in their duel a few weeks back.

-You noticed that too, Yami?-

-I did not know that you were listening in, aibou.- Yami mentally chuckled. Yugi was getting better and better at disguising his mental presence, not that Yami minded. He had nothing to hide.

-Sorry.-

-It is quite alright, Yugi. But yes, I feel as though Bakura has had a revelation as of late. His personality is the same, however it seems that even Ryou is less afraid of him.-

The boy in question was currently arguing out loud with his yami over which house Malik should be put into. One month ago, Ryou would have been punished for even thinking of disagreeing with his Yami, let alone actually _arguing_ with him.

-I don't think that it was your duel that changed Bakura. He was acting like this before that. Remember when you tried to protect Ryou before he ran into Knockturn Alley, he got mad at you, saying that he wouldn't hurt him?-

Yami frowned. But before either of them could put any more thought into the matter, a pair of socks were lobbed at Yugi's head. "Hey!" Malik called. "It's rude to do that while there are others present, you know. Help me out, Yug!"

His hikari sighed, while shaking his head and doing a really bad job of disguising his amused smile. Yugi stood up and began helping Malik gather his things and dump them haphazardly into his trunk.

**XXX**

A few hours later, Mrs. Weasley was kissing all of her children goodbye on the train platform. Ryou felt a small twinge of sadness as he watched the scene, even Ellie, Hermione and Harry were being mauled by her and a distraught Sirius, who wouldn't stop jumping on them and licking their faces. It made him long for his own parents.

"Oh, and Ryou!" Ryou was shocked out of his thoughts by Mrs. Weasley, who had rushed over and threw her arms around him. Bakura wasn't impressed, but Ryou hadn't been hugged by anybody but Malik in a long time. He decided that it was nice. "Don't hesitate to write, dear. You are welcome with us at anytime, you were a delightful guest." Ryou thanked her, and Mrs. Weasley eventually pulled away. With a twinge of regret Ryou watched as she proceeded to give similar goodbyes to Yugi and Malik.

"Snuffles, stop it! I'm allergic!" Ellie's laughing voice came drifting over to where Ryou was standing. He looked over to see that Sirius had actually knocked Ellie over and was licking her face, while she sneezed repeatedly. "Go say goodbye to somebody else, will you?"

Sirius proceeded to pounce on each of the transfers next, saying his goodbyes. Ryou felt bad for him, once they left he was going to be living at Grimmauld Place all by himself. He gave him an extra pat on the head, smiling sadly at the disguised prisoner and boarded the train along with his friends.

"Bye!"

"Don't be afraid to write!"

"Stay out of trouble!"

"Good luck with the sorting!"

The voices of their guard followed them as the train began chugging away. Ryou laughed at Sirius' form bounding along beside the train until they rounded a corner.

"Come on," Harry said to his friends, blatantly excluding Ryou, Yugi and Malik. "Let's find a compartment."

"Um," Hermione stammered, looking at Ron nervously. "I'm sorry Harry, we can't. As prefects we're supposed to patrol the corridors for a bit."

"What?" Ron did not look pleased.

Hermione shook her head, and leaving their pets to be looked after by their friends, she dragged him off.

"Well, come on then," Ellie told a dejected looking Harry. When the transfers didn't follow them, she turned around. "Aren't you three coming?" Ryou's heart leapt.

"Of course," He said breathlessly, giving his trunk a yank and ducking his head to hide his blush. Harry did not look pleased, but Ryou knew that Ellie was much too nice to leave them to fend for themselves with their peers, regardless of the fact that she didn't trust them.

Once Ellie had her back turned, Malik nudged him and winked.

"Huh?"

"You're redder than Osiris."

"No I'm not!"

Malik just winked again and pushed forwards to shove a path through the crowd.

The five of them eventually found an empty compartment and settled in. (Ryou blushingly helped Ellie put her trunk in the overhead compartment)

For the next few hours, the transfers proceeded to grill the two with questions about Hogwarts, which Ellie eagerly answered, and Harry sulked at, looking out the window. The lunch lady eventually went by, and Yugi bought a dozen chocolate frogs, excitedly rummaging through the cards.

"So I have Dippet, Bertie Bott, Circe, Gringott, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Merlin, Ptolemy and Dumbledore." He said excitedly, laying out all his cards.

"Ooh, I'll swap you Queen Maeve for Circe." Ellie offered. When Yugi accepted, she laughed. "Ronald's going to murder me. He's been after Circe for _years._"

Harry, who couldn't be bothered to sulk anymore apparently, joined in on the conversation. "I can't believe you only got two sets of doubles!" He said, shocked.

"I guess I'm just lucky." Yugi replied quietly, while Ryou and Malik shared a knowing glance.

"Speaking of cards," Malik interjected, pulling out a deck. "Anybody up for an exciting duel?"

Yugi eagerly accepted his offer, and ten minutes later they were immersed in the game, while Ryou explained the moves to Ellie and Harry.

"I'll set these two cards facedown, and end my turn." Yugi said. He hadn't switched with Yami, it was too dangerous in front of Ellie and Harry, yet he was still kicking Malik's butt.

"So those could either be a trap or magic card, set to defend against Malik's attack?" Ellie asked,

"Or promote Yugi's own attack." Ryou had joined Harry on the opposite bench, while Ellie was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the compartment, getting a close up of the match that was taking place on the bench between Yugi and Malik.

Malik wore a mask of intense concentration, and he laid down two facedown cards of his own.

Half an hour later Ron and Hermione walked in, seemingly exhausted from their prefect duties.

Ron groaned, and collapsed into the empty seat next to Harry. "Three guesses who made prefect for Slytherin." He said sarcastically.

"You're kidding." Ellie swiveled around, wide-eyed, and looked to Hermione for confirmation.

"I wish I was." She replied, seemingly equally as frustrated.

"Who are you talking about?" Malik asked, not taking his eyes off of his cards.

"Malfoy." Ron spat, making it sound as though it were a dirty word.

The name rang a bell in Ryou's mind. "Isn't that the death eater that, uh. . ." He trailed off awkwardly.

"Yeah." Ellie said, wrinkling her nose and looking at Ryou. "His son. His name is Draco. Most loathsome prat you'll ever meet. Watch out for him."

"And he got prefect because. . .?" Malik asked, scowling as Yugi took out a big chunk of his life points.

"His Daddy is on the board of governors and likes to boss people around." Hermione replied patiently. "We're almost there, Ellie. Fancy a trip to the toilet to change?" She offered her friend a hand, and pulled her to her feet. The girls dug their robes out of their trunks and set off, leaving to boys to do the same.

They all pulled their robes out and began to change as well. Ryou noticed that Harry and Ron's robes were already branded with the Gryffindor crest. Hopefully, by tonight his would be as well.

Malik had cleverly thought ahead to this, and he was wearing a muscle shirt underneath his muggle t-shirt, so he did not need to expose the scars on his back. Harry and Ron were none the wiser.

Ryou, however, was not so lucky.

"Bloody hell, Ryou! What happened to your arm?" Came Ron's tactful voice. He was half dressed himself, and was pointing to the spot where Bakura had stabbed him. It was certainly a big scar that he usually hid behind long sleeved t-shirts, but didn't think to cover it up now.

Caught on the spot, Ryou couldn't think of a good lie. "Um, I-I got. . . Mugged," He said lamely, pulling his shirt over his head to hide his blush and his arm once again.

Ron scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

Ryou's heart sank. He wished that Ron would just drop the issue.

Luckily, Yugi came to his defense quickly. "It isn't really your place to judge, Ron."

"Like hell it isn't, you three have been lying to us ever since you got here."

"So what?" Demanded Malik angrily. "It's none of your business."

"Yes it is," Said Harry quietly. He rounded on Ryou. "You hurt Ellie."

Ryou was still guilt ridden from this, but Harry bringing it up again was just like pouring salt into a fresh wound. If it were up to him, he would have just sat down and took that quietly. But Bakura must have felt it, because he chose that moment to explode from his soul room in rage, and Ryou quickly lost control of his own body.

"Stupid fool, you know nothing." Ryou watched on helplessly as Bakura pulled a knife out of his pocket (he had _no _clue that that was in there) and fingered it threateningly.

-Koe, please, I can handle. . .-

-No, Ryou.- This was the first time that Bakura had ever called Ryou by his name. -I will not let this weakling demean you on my behalf.- If Ryou had been in control of his own body, he would have fallen over in shock of what he had just heard.

"I know that you pushed one of my best friends, and she had an egg on her head for a week." Harry retorted, eyeing the knife and pulling out his wand in response.

"Ignorant fool, that wasn't-"

"What Ryou is trying to say," Interjected Malik angrily, thankfully cutting off Bakura before he said too much. "Is that we have our secrets, and you have yours." The duel monsters game between him and Yugi lay untouched.

"You already _know _our secrets. You know about Sirius, you know about the Order, and you know where Headquarters is," Ron said angrily, rounding on Yugi, who had been quiet this whole time. "And you're too scared to share your secrets?"

"There is nothing cowardly about protecting your friends," Yami had came out when Ron had insulted Yugi. Ron and Harry weren't nearly as observant as Ellie and Hermione, so they didn't notice a thing. "I think that we need to establish a truce."

Harry and Ron both were obviously opposed to this idea, but they nodded reluctantly. Ryou figured that it had something to do with the knife in his hand. They certainly were not cowards. They knew how to fight with magic, but it was clear that they didn't have the first clue when it came to hand to hand combat.

"Fine." Ron said sulkily.

"Alright." Harry nodded, eyeing the knife and warily pocketing his wand.

"You two put some faith in us," Yami proposed. "And you have our word that we will not hurt either of you. Ever."

"That had better include Ellie and Hermione!" Ron said, pointing a finger in Yami's face.

"As you wish."

The general atmosphere in the compartment lightened considerably, as they all took their seats. It was awkward, but it wasn't hateful.

-Koe, speaking of Ellie and Hermione…-

-They have been gone awhile.-

"Hey, Yugi, Malik? Fancy a walk?" Bakura, pretending to be Ryou, asked. Obviously they weren't fooled, but they packed up their cards and came nonetheless. Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows at this, but did not say anything. For that the transfers were grateful.

The corridors were nearly empty now, as they were nearing their destination and everyone was packing their things. "What's up, Bakura?" Malik asked, knowing that he was speaking to the spirit.

"My hikari believes that the girls have gotten themselves into some sort of trouble. He is worried for the blonde's safety."

-I AM NOT!-

Unfortunately, Ryou was ignored.

Yami (who was still in control), and Malik both smirked and nodded. They followed him towards the bathrooms.

A few carriages down, they found what they were looking for. And Ryou was right, the girls were in trouble. They were backed into the wall by four huge boys wearing robes crested with the green and silver crest of Slytherin. All six had their wands drawn.

"These are dark times, boys. Filthy little mudblood girls shouldn't be running around by themselves." A boy with hair almost as white as Ryou's own, said, sneering down at them.

"Sod off, Malfoy. Daddy isn't here to protect you, so I'd watch your back," Ellie shot right back, with not a trace of fear in her eyes.

-Malfoy? Bakura, that's the death eater's son!-

"Speaking of which, Milton, my aunt came around the other day. I believe you've met. Bellatrix? She told me that you had the pleasure- AHHH!"

He was cut off mid-sentence because Bakura had grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the wall, knife to his throat. "I suggest you stop talking." He whispered threateningly in the cowering boy's ear. "In fact, I suggest that you never talk to her again."

"Crabbe! Goyle! Zabini! Do something!" Malfoy commanded.

**XXX**

"Crabbe! Goyle! Zabini! Do something!"

"I wouldn't do that." Malik said, as the lackeys in question rolled up their sleeves and cracked their muscles menacingly. Ellie gaped. Ryou, _sweet Ryou_, had Malfoy pinned with a knife?

No, she shook her head. This must be his double. But he was protecting her and Hermione? _Why?_

Malik and Yugi both stepped in front of the girls, ready to face Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini for them.

Hermione and Ellie shared a scared, yet confused look.

"Blaise!" Malfoy whined desperately once again. Ellie saw that the knife pressed to his throat wasn't really pressed, it was just hovering there for a threat. She relaxed a little bit.

Blaise made a move towards Ryou and Malfoy, obviously intent on beating up Ryou, but Malik punched him in the face before he could get much further.

Angrily, he raised his wand, and pointed it in Malik's face.

"_Expelliarmus!" _Ellie shouted, stepping forward next to Yugi, or his double. The jet of red light hit Blaise square in the chest, and his wand went flying. Crabbe raised his wand at Ellie to retaliate, but before either of them could even blink, Yugi had raised his own wand to Crabbe's neck.

"Stay away from my friend." He commanded in a deep, authoritative voice that was _so _unlike Yugi.

Realizing that they were outnumbered and outmatched, Crabbe and Goyle turned tail and bolted. Blaise grabbed his wand and ran too.

Ryou, obviously deciding that just Malfoy on his own wasn't worth threatening anymore, tossed him to the ground effortlessly.

"Just you wait until my father hears about this!" He cried.

"You don't know who you're messing with." Ryou snarled back. They watched as Malfoy scrambled away.

Ellie lowered her wand and stepped back to stand with a shell shocked Hermione.

Ryou pocketed his knife, and his eyes flashed. He smiled at them innocently. "Did they hurt you?" He asked, stepping forward and examining the two of them.

"N-no. . ." Ellie stammered, looking over at Yugi, who seemed to have reverted back to his usual self as well. There was no change in Malik, who was dusting himself off and looking as though he had enjoyed the fight.

"We're sorry that you had to see that," Yugi said, smiling sweetly, stepping forward too. His wand had disappeared inside his robes.

There was absolutely no trace of the menacing boys who had just scared off the four Slytherins left in Yugi and Ryou.

"Assholes! I bet that that is the famous Malfoy?" Malik jumped in, grinning and putting his arms around Ellie and Hermione's shoulders.

"Yes." Hermione said confusedly. "We could have taken them, you know. We have before."

"All four of them?" Malik asked dubiously, eyes wide, swiveling his head from Ellie to Hermione..

"Yes!" Ellie said, slightly offended.

"Just the two of you?"

"Yes!" Her and Hermione answered together, slight smiles gracing their faces.

"Not that we don't appreciate it," Hermione added hastily.

"I suppose you don't really need Dumbledore's protection after all, do you?" Ellie muttered, more to herself than the transfers. They smiled at her, but didn't answer her question.

"We should get back."


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys! Another early treat for y'all. You're lucky, I usually wouldn't update so often, I've just got bitten by the muse bug I suppose, and I can't write fast enough to keep up with all of my ideas.**

**Hopefully you don't mind. ;)**

**Anyways, I own nothing. There is some dialogue here from the book, I believe, and the sorting hat song. Neither of them are mine.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 15**

"We should get back." Ryou said, jealously eyeing the way that Malik had his arm around Ellie. Bakura, who was paying very close attention to what was happening, laughed loudly in his head.

-Give it a rest, Ryou. Ishtar is a charmer, but I don't think that you need to worry.- He said, but not meanly.

-Why are you being nice to me?- Ryou couldn't take it any longer. He wanted to know what had come over his yami.

Bakura didn't answer.

-And what about Ellie and Hermione, Koe? Why did you protect them?- Ryou prompted.

-I don't know.- Came the quiet reply, before Ryou felt Bakura retreat to the solitary of his soul room.

Ryou was just about ready to pull his hair out in frustration, but the sight of Ellie shyly skirting out from under Malik's arm made him feel better.

"No," she said to Ryou's request that they get back. Ryou's stomach lurched in both good and bad ways as she walked over to him, took his arm and continued. "We need to talk." She gently pulled him into a nearby empty compartment. She gave Yugi and Malik expectant looks as well, and they all filed in. Hermione shut the door behind them.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, her look of confusion mirroring the one on Ellie's face.

Ryou and Malik shared a worried look. They knew that they were busted.

Yugi tried to play dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why did you defend us?" Hermione demanded.

"Don't act so surprised," Malik scowled. "We're not evil." Anymore.

"You sure act like it sometimes." Ellie said quietly. She wouldn't meet any of their eyes. Ryou knew what was on her mind, and he wondered once again what she and Bakura had talked about on the night that his yami wouldn't let him see.

"We're sorry that you feel that way." Yugi said. "I like you guys. I really do. But you have to understand that we can't share all of our secrets with just anyone. It's too dangerous in more ways than one."

"More ways than one?" Hermione asked, eyebrows raising in shock. "Is there somebody other than You-Know-Who after you guys?"

"Um, not really. It's very . . . Complicated." Ryou answered. Complicated didn't even begin to describe all of their situations. "Malik is right. We're not evil. Just. . . Dark." He thought for a moment. "Sometimes."

Ryou did not like the way that Ellie and Hermione both looked like they understood.

"And powerful?" Ellie asked.

Malik grinned. "Oh yeah."

"Oh."

"Hey, Ryou?" Hermione asked after she and Ellie had a second to digest that information.

"Yes?"

"That thing that you . . . you know. When the death eaters attacked you in London." She blushed a bit. "Was that a duel monster?"

Wow. Hermione was very observant. Best to go with the truth, he thought. The vaguest truth available.

"Yes. It was, Hermione."

"How did you-"

"We can't tell you." Yugi told her firmly. "I'm sorry."

"What about what just happened?" Ellie demanded. "You know Malfoy and the rest of his Slytherin lackeys are going to be looking for blood after what just happened. You shouldn't have done that."

"We'll be fine." Ryou smiled at her. When she opened her mouth to argue, he cut her off. "Really."

"If that is what Slytherin is like, then I do not want _any_ part of it." Malik muttered, shaking his head.

"We really should get back now, though." Ryou said, laughing a little bit. "I'm sure your friends are worried." He added that last bit to Ellie and Hermione. They nodded, and the group all moved towards the door.

"Wait." Yugi said, looking slightly anxious. "You can't tell them."

"Why not?" Hermione demanded.

"Please. They already don't trust us. We just had a bit of an argume- never mind that." He shook his head, and Hermione looked slightly miffed. "The point is that they aren't our biggest fans at the moment." Yugi smiled sadly. "I don't want to give them any ammunition."

Ryou and Malik nodded in agreement.

"But they'd be pleased!" Ellie argued, looking put out. "You helped us."

"Yes. We gave them our word that we would never hurt any of you, but they are still wary of what we can do. I don't want them knowing that Ryou, um, pulled a knife on a fellow student. Slytherin or not." Yugi added, seeing how both Ellie and Hermione were ready to argue with him on that last point.

"You're asking us to lie?" Hermione asked, skeptically. "To our best friends?"

Yugi blanched.

"No," Ryou answered for him. "Just. . . Bend the facts. A little. Just until we gain their trust."

Neither girl looked pleased, but they finally nodded.

The group finally began the short trek back to their compartment. Ellie hung back, walking slowly. Ryou decided to follow suit.

"So," Said Ellie conversationally. "What were you guys fighting about?"

"You." He replied, slightly embarrassedly.

"Me?"

"You know, when I pushed you I. . . I wasn't myself. I can't explain it right now, but I really am sorry and I promise that it won't ever happen again." He blushed. "I don't ever want to hurt you, Ellie."

Once again, that flicker of understanding appeared in Ellie's eyes. It made Ryou feel sick, the knowledge that she and Hermione might know more than they were letting on.

"I forgive you, Ryou." She smiled genuinely this time. Ryou's dejection quickly turned to elation to see _Ellie_ smiling at _him_ like _that_, and he couldn't help but smile right back.

**XXX**

"First years! Transfers, this way! First years and transfers!" Malik hopped off of the train, and heard a woman's voice calling them over. The smallest members of the crowd were nervously herding towards her.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry demanded Ellie, his gaze set on the woman waving a lantern high. "Isn't he back yet?"

Ellie shrugged, her head swiveling, looking for whoever Hagrid was.

"Who is Hagrid?" Ryou asked from close behind Ellie, looking really pleased that the crowd was causing their immediate proximity.

"He's the groundkeeper. . .He's supposed to be taking you across the lake." Ellie replied with a worried look on her face, sharing a meaningful glance with Harry. "You don't think . . .?" She lowered her voice and leaned in towards Harry.

"No. He was with Madame Maxine," Harry whispered firmly. "He's fine."

"Who?"

Ellie rearranged her face into an unconvincing smile, and turned to the transfers. "Never mind, it's fine. That's your ride, guys." She successfully changed the subject by pointing at the woman, and then locking eyes with Malik. "Good luck with the sorting."

With that, her and Harry turned tail and disappeared into the crowd.

With all the excitement of the fight with both Harry and Ron and the Slytherins, Malik had completely forgotten about the sorting. He groaned theatrically. "Fuck."

A first year looked offended and scurried off.

"Malik! Stop it! You'll do fine!" Yugi chirped, taking hold of his sleeves and pulling him along.

The three of them awkwardly climbed into the little boat that was meant for children much smaller than themselves, and cursed and swore as they almost capsized it.

"Stop! Stop! STOP!"

"Don't move!"

"Lean left, Ryou!"

"Ouch! That's my foot!"

"MALIK! Stop it!"

"Sorry!" He wasn't sorry.

"Will you three cut it out?!" Came the irritated voice of Professor Grubbly-Plank from across the water.

"We're trying!"

Awhile after they had finally gotten settled comfortably in the boat, Professor Grubbly-Plank announced that Hogwarts would soon rise up from the horizon. And when it did, an audible intake of breath could be heard from every member of the group.

Malik, who had grown up in an underground tomb, and then moved to modern Domino City, had never seen anything like it. A magnificent castle towered above them, with dozens of turrets and hundreds of lit up window. It provided a beacon for their ascent as they climbed out of their boats and began the trek up to their new home.

He couldn't help but join in on the excited chatter with Yugi, Ryou and the rest of the first years.

They finally made it in to the castle by way of two massive doors leading to a cavernous entrance hall. There they were greeted by Professor McGonagall, a woman whom they had met at headquarters.

She explained to them a bit of how the ceremony would work, and then pulled the three boys aside to tell them that, as transfers, they would be sorted last so that she could introduce them properly.

Yugi was bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement, Ryou was paler than, well, Ryou, and Malik felt as though he were going to throw up.

The doors opened, and the group filed into what Hermione had told him was the Great Hall. She had told him of it's magnificence, but words could not do it justice: it was lit by the starry night sky, as Hermione had told him that it was bewitched to be a reflection of the sky itself. There were also hundreds and thousands of candles, floating in midair, seemingly hovering the students, who were sat at four long tables, eagerly craning their necks to get a glimpse of the newcomers.

He loved it, it had to be one of the most beautiful places that he had ever seen. It was so different from the dark caves in which he had grown up. It was open, airy and completely and utterly magical.

Looking around at his fellow newcomers, Malik felt so out of place, towering above everybody. He and Ryou were about the same height, but they were both pretty tall, especially when they were stuck in a group of 11 year olds and Yugi.

He felt the gaze of all of the students on him, and resisted the urge to turn around and run out the doors screaming like a little girl. He stopped looking at the ceiling and instead focused on the faces, a lot of which were whispering. Most likely about the three 15 year olds that had entered with the first years.

He finally picked his friends out from the crowd. Sitting at what could only have been the Gryffindor table (as it was sitting underneath brilliant scarlet and gold flags) were Harry, Ellie, Hermione and all of the Weasleys. Ellie and Hermione waved happily, while Harry and Ron both avoided their gaze. Malik looked over at Ryou, who was blushingly waving back at them, and Yugi, who was craning his neck simply to see over everyone.

Malik jumped, when all of a sudden a voice came out of nowhere and boomed above the clatter of voices in the hall. He looked to the front, and saw, to his amazement, that an old and frayed hat sitting on a little three legged stool was the source of the singing:

In times of old, when I was new,

And Hogwarts barely started,

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted.

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning

To make the world's best magic school

And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach"

The four good friends decided.

And never did they dream that they

Might some day be divided

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffindor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there, so I can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin,

"We'll teach just those Whose ancestry's purest."

Said Ravenclaw,

"We'll teach those whose Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor,

"We'll teach all those With brave deeds to their name."

Said Hufflepuff,

"I'll teach the lot And treat them just the same."

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to Light

For each of the four founders had

A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance, Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning just like him.

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest

and taught them all she knew,

Thus, the houses and their founders

Maintained friendships firm and true.

Hogwarts worked in harmony

for several happy years,

but then discord crept among us

feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four

had once held up our school

now turned upon each other and

divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school

must meet an early end.

What with dueling and with fighting

and the clash of friend on friend.

And at last there came a morning

when old Slytherin departed for the Shadows

he left us quite disarranged

as we must now reap what we sew.

And never since the founders four

were whittled down to three

have the Houses been united

as they once were meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here

and you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

because that is what I'm for.

But this year I'll go further,

listen closely to my song:

though condemned I am to split you

still I worry that it's wrong,

Though I must fulfill my duty

and must quarter every year

still I wonder whether sorting

may not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,

the warning history shows,

for our Hogwarts is in danger

from dark and deadly Shadows.

And we must unite inside here

or we'll crumble from within

I have told you, I have warned you...

let the Sorting now begin!

Malik had found the song a bit boring and had tuned out after a bit. But apparently that was not the right thing to do, as the whole hall had exploded into whispers. He whirled desperately on Yugi.

"What did-"

"It said that Hogwarts was in danger from Shadows!" Yugi whispered frantically to him and Ryou. "Not here!" He gestured to the crowd pressed in on them, giving him funny looks as he had just spoken in Japanese

Yugi had good timing too, as the whispering abruptly died out. Malik looked to the front and saw Professor McGonagall looking particularly murderous towards the whispering pupils.

"Abercrombie, Euan." She called impatiently. A large eared boy stumbled forward and placed the hat on his head.

He was followed by dozens of kids, all wearing the same terrified expression. The sorting went on for awhile, the crowd around the transfers dwindling until they were the only three left. Malik suddenly felt even more self conscious as he didn't have anything, not even tiny eleven year olds, to hide him from the scrutiny of his peers.

He saw Malfoy and his gang of hulking Slytherins leering at him from their table. He gulped, praying that he wouldn't be put in their house.

Professor McGonagall once again waited for everyone's undivided attention before she continued.

"We are pleased to welcome three transfer students from Japan this year. They will be joining our fifth years in their studies. I expect all of you to give them the warmest of welcomes." Her eyes lingered on the Slytherin table as the students craned, if possible, even more to see the three boys.

"Bakura, Ryou." She called, unfurling a second roll of parchment. Poor Ryou looked as though he was going to faint at any given moment, but he gathered his wits (probably a push from his yami) and walked to the stool with his head held high, and not a trace of a blush to be seen on his usually red face. Malik felt a small twinge of pride for his friend.

He put the hat on his head, and the hall fell silent. It looked as though every house wanted the transfers in their houses, as it seemed like everyone was holding their breath.

The hat was taking a long time on Ryou, whose eyes were closed. It must be having an argument with Bakura, he thought.

The crowd was getting restless. They were beginning to whisper. Malik listened in, and he immediately wished that he hadn't.

"That's them!"

"The Duel Monsters champions!"

"Oh my god! He's so cute!"

"What are they doing here?"

"Do you think that he'll autograph my hat? Next to Krum?"

Malik did not have any idea who Krum was, but there was no way in hell that he was autographing any girl's hat. He glanced over at Yugi, who looked very uncomfortable as well. It seems that he heard the whispers as well.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat finally exploded, scaring everyone out of their wits. Said table exploded in cheers and screams, louder than that of any of the first years received. Malik grinned as Ryou took a seat next to Ellie, who hugged him in congratulations.

"Muto, Yugi!" McGonagall called, and Malik was left all alone while Yugi went up, his face blanching at all the stares he received. That boy was always the centre of attention, but it seemed that he would never ever get used to it.

The hat didn't take nearly as long sorting Yugi as it did with Ryou.

"Gryffindor!"

Said table exploded into even louder cheers, seemingly elated that they received two of the transfers. Yugi seemed even more elated, and he jogged over to sit with Ryou and the others.

Malik was happy for his friends, but he was also terrified. What if he was the only one to get sorted into a different house?

What if he lost control of Marik? He needed his friends to be nearby to help him reel him in.

And, what if he was sorted into Slytherin? It seemed as though that was the house he was most suited for, as he had all of their traditional traits. But there was no way that he could sleep in the same room as Malfoy without having to booby trap the immediate area around his bed every night.

He felt sick.

"Ishtar, Malik!"

Malik took his time walking to the stool, completely forgetting about all the stares on him. All he wanted was to be put into Gryffindor, with his friends and have the peace of mind that that would bring.

He finally made it to the stool, and painfully lowered the hat onto his head.

"Ha!" A voice in his mind exploded, reverberating in a scarily familiar way to what Marik had done before he was bound. "Another one! My, my, you are powerful, aren't you?

"Yes, I can see. . . But wait? Your other half is different than those of your friends'. Hmm. So you banished him? Interesting.

"You're clever, that much is certain. Very clever. Cunning too, and ambitious. Ah, those are very much the qualities of a certain green and silver house, I know. But what's this?"

"No! Please, I want to be in Gryffindor, with my friends."

"You cannot simply ask which house you would like to be in, boy. It doesn't work that way. You would be great for Slytherin, child. An excellent addition. And Slytherin would be great for you, no doubt about that. Hmm."

"Please. Not Slytherin."

"I told you, my dear boy, you cannot choose."

"But-"

"I know exactly where to put you!"

Malik opened his eyes and waited for the sorting hat to call his fate.

**XXX**

**Minor cliffhanger, nothing that you guys can't handle. Any guesses to which house Malik's going to get into? **

**A few things that I need to say. Starting with the sorting. I know it's supposed to be alphabetic, but for my own personal reasons (and in order to provide y'all with a nice cliffy) I tweaked it a bit and made Malik come after Yugi. Hope you don't mind. **

**The song, obviously was ripped off from the book. I tweaked it a tad, but not nearly enough to credit myself AT ALL. I would also like to cite the Harry Potter Wiki page for the song, because I copy and pasted it from there. Heaven knows I wasn't going to type the whole thing out myself, and I really wanted it in the story.**

**I would also like to thank everybody that has reviewed so far. You guys are my motivation, and I would like to remind you that I am totally open to ideas, criticism, as well as predictions. Don't be afraid to drop a line in the pretty little box!**

**Thanks for reading, and I'll hopefully see you soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A few of you requested to hear Yugi and Ryou's POVs of the sorting, so I'll include those for you guys before I reveal where Malik's going.**

**Before I start, I wanted to tell you all something that I meant to, but completely forgot to include in last chapter's AN. What I wanted to tell you was my motivation for the sorting hat not letting Malik choose his house. So, when Harry was being sorted, he didn't go in asking to be put into Gryffindor, he just asked to **_**not**_** be put into Slytherin. So he didn't **_**choose **_**his house. Malik, on the other hand, went in begging for Gryffindor. Naturally this pissed the hat off a bit, so it got a tad snappy and told him that he didn't get to choose either. Sorry if this caused any confusion!**

**Don't own anything. I once again copied a bit of necessary dialogue from the book in this chapter. **

**Enjoy!**

_**Edit: Coming back and rereading this chapter, I realized that I messed up big time. I must have accidently saved and uploaded the wrong copy of this chapter. I usually edit in the same word document, but I must have forgotten to save it. What I'm trying to say is that I uploaded the unedited version of this chapter. Luckily I caught it only 2 days later, but I'm sure a lot of people have already read it. I did make a few changes, but since it was already uploaded and I know you guys don't want to reread it, it's mostly just grammatical errors that I went back and fixed. Nothing major was changed, and you do not have to reread this chapter by any means. Sorry guys!**_

**Chapter 16**

_RYOU POV_

"We are pleased to welcome three transfer students from Japan this year. They will be joining our fifth years in their studies. I expect all of you to give them the warmest of welcomes." Professor McGonagall announced, her eyes lingering on the Slytherin table, and she unrolled a second roll of parchment.

"Bakura, Ryou."

Wait, he was going _first?_ Ryou felt every drop of blood drain from his head as Bakura took over his legs and forced him to walk to the front of the hall. He was once again glad he was there, because Ryou was aware of every eye on him and there was no way he could have achieved that simple task on his own.

After what seemed like hours later, Ryou finally reached the stool. He picked up the hat, sat down, and slowly placed it on his head. He felt even sicker when he remembered Ellie's words:

"_The sorting hat looks into your mind. Then it decides where to put you."_

He gulped. There was no way that the hat was going to miss the spirit of the Thief King in his head.

"My my my, what do we have here?" A voice sounded in his head. It was not unlike the way that Bakura spoke to him. "You are quite the powerful one, aren't you?"

Ryou gulped.

"Yes, Mr. Bakura I can see the one that shares your mind. My goodness, what power you both have…" The hat speculated.

"Sort the boy, leave me out of this." Bakura ordered the hat.

"You would be great for Slytherin, spirit." The hat told Bakura. "I see deep, deep ambition in you. But I will look at the boy, as you wish.

"Hmm, where to put you? You have the traits required for almost all of the houses. You have the intelligence for Ravenclaw, you have the loyalty and even the bravery for Gryffindor, and you have a kind enough spirit to be head of the Hufflepuff house. . . but where to put you?" The hat mused on. Ryou just listened, his eyes squinted shut.

There was silence for the next little bit. This was taking a _lot _longer than any of the first year's sorting. Ryou could hear the hall whispering as they anxiously waited for the hat to make it's decision.

"Boy, you are a mystery to me. However, I have explored your mind inside out and I do believe that you would be perfect for _GRYFFINDOR!"_

**XXX**

"That's them!"

"The Duel Monsters champions!"

"Oh my god! He's so cute!"

"What are they doing here?"

"Do you think that he'll autograph my hat? Next to Krum?"

-It seems as though you are well known here as well, aibou.- Yami chuckled as Yugi ignored the whispers while he anxiously waited his turn. -Especially with the girls.-

Yugi shifted uncomfortably, realizing that his yami was right but too modest to agree. He kept his eyes firmly on the ground, and refused to make eye contact with any of the girls staring his way.

"GRYFFINOR!" The hat bellowed, placing Ryou where Yugi knew he'd end up all along. He finally looked up and smiled and cheered with the rest of the school, watching his friend make a beeline straight for Ellie. He couldn't help but laugh at the blush on his face when she actually gave him a hug, and gestured for him to sit next to her.

-It seems that Ryou is making quite an impression as well.-

"Muto, Yugi!" Professor McGonagall called. Yugi blanched, as he had completely forgotten that he would have to go up there as well. He gave Malik what he hoped was a brave and encouraging look, and stumbled his way to the stool.

He placed the hat on his head, and jumped at the unfamiliar voice that intruded his head.

"Well, you and your friend have both given me quite the shock, I must say. It seems that you are just as powerful as Mr. Bakura.

"Ah, the presence in your head, however, is a lot like you. Yes Mr. Muto, the presence in Mr. Bakura was very different from himself, while you two are very much the same.

"Yes, yes, yes, you are a much _easier_ choice: _GRYFFINDOR_!"

**XXX**

"I know exactly where to put you!"

Malik opened his eyes and waited for the sorting hat to call his fate. The silence in the hall was absolute, and Malik just prayed for something in his life to go right for once.

"Gryffindor!" It shouted, both inside his head and out. Said table erupted into cheers and screams, even louder than that of Ryou and Yugi, most likely because they were ecstatic to have gotten the set of transfers.

"YES!" Malik jumped up and punched the air, to the laughter of many in the hall. He set the hat back on the stool, yelled "THANKS!" and ran over to join his friends.

"Malik! You did it!" Yugi cried, jumping out of his seat and patting his friend on the back. The smile on the kid's face was huge, apparently he was happy that the three of them would be together as well.

"Congratulations!" Ryou said, equally as happy.

"Welcome to Gryffindor!" Hermione squealed from the other side of the table.

"I knew you could do it." Ellie added, hugging him as well and urging him to take a seat.

"Thanks guys!" He and Yugi squeezed in on either side of Ryou, patting each other on the back over and over again.

Malik politely smiled back at the half hearted congratulations from Harry and Ron, who were sitting across from them with Hermione. He resisted the urge to groan when he realized that they would be sharing a room from now on. _This should be interesting._

Before any of the Gryffindors sitting around them, watching the newcomers could introduce themselves, the hall suddenly grew quiet. Malik turned his head to the front of the Great Hall to see Professor Dumbledore standing to greet them all, arms spread wide and smiling warmly.

"To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!" Appreciative laughter and a smattering of applause greeted these words, but Malik was suddenly distracted by the feast which had suddenly appeared before his eyes.

"Whoa!" He and Yugi gasped together, reaching forwards and digging in. "Cool!" He added, mouth already full of steak.

Ron was equally enthusiastic, as his mouth was just as full of roast potatoes. "Excellent," He managed.

Malik laughed at the disgusted look Hermione and a nearby ghost gave him.

Wait, ghost?

Malik gave a start, and nearly choked on his food. Ellie cheerfully thumped him on the back, successfully clearing his airways.

"This is Sir Nicholas de-Mimsy-Porpington," Ellie informed Malik and an equally surprised Yugi and Malik. She adjusted her glasses. "Or, as we like to call him, Nearly Headless Nick."

"At your service," The ghost bowed. He was dressed in a tunic, tights, and wore a heavy ruff around his neck. "Welcome to Gryffindor!"

"How can you be nearly headless?" Asked Ryou interestedly. Malik waved his hand through the ghost's midriff, only to feel as though his hand had been turned to ice. He grimaced, yanked it back, and scooted a little bit further away. _Spirits_ he could deal with. _Ghosts?_ No way.

"Like this!" With that, Nick grabbed himself by his translucent hair, tugged and his head promptly swung off, held on by an inch on skin. "Took the executioner forty five hits with a blunt axe to finish off Sir Nicholas!" He proclaimed proudly.

"Ugh!" The three transfers jumped back, while Ron laughed unkindly. Ryou, Malik noticed, had turned even paler than usual and pushed his plate away. The rest of the Hogwarts students, however, laughed as though this were a usual occurrence and continued eating as though nothing had happened.

"What were you saying before the Sorting, Nick?" Hermione asked the ghost. Malik noticed that the people sitting around them leaned in to listen as well.

"Oh yes," He said, twisting his body in a way that flipped his head back up to sit (a little crookedly) on his shoulders again. Malik was grateful that the ruff covered the gruesome injury, as he had no desire to look at it while eating. "Yes, I have heard the hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, it's advice is the same: stand together, be strong from within."

Ron emitted a series of grunts that sounded like a question.

"I beg your pardon?"

Ron swallowed hugely, and without missing a beat said, "How can it know if the school's in danger if it's a hat?"

Malik thought that that was a very good question.

"I have no idea. Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay that it picks things up there."

"And it wants all the houses to be friends?" Harry asked, pointedly looking over at the Slytherin table, which Malik was once again elated to not be sitting at, and said, "Fat chance."

Malik wholeheartedly agreed.

Nearly-Headless Nick didn't. "Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude. Peaceful co-operation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking a fight with the Bloody Baron."

"Only because you're terrified of him," Ron muttered darkly. Malik couldn't help but laugh. He didn't like Ron's attitude towards him and his friends much, but he had to admit that he was funny.

Nearly-Headless Nick looked offended and floated off.

"Oh, Ronald, look at what you did!" Hermione tittered, anxiously watching the ghost float off.

Ron just shrugged and ate some more potatoes.

"Hey, mate, you're that duel monsters guy!" A voice floated from down the table. Malik looked up to see that a tall, black boy had spoken, and was grinning down at them. Behind him was a disgruntled looking boy who wasn't meeting their eyes. "I'm Dean." He grinned and offered a hand. "And this grump here is Seamus. Nice to meet you."

"Oi! I'm not a-"

"I'm Malik," He said, shaking Dean's hand. "Nice to meet you both."

"I'm Yugi," the short boy said, standing up and leaning forward to shake his hand as well.

"I'm Ryou. Nice to meet you too."

After this, many Gryffindors approached them with introductions, including a round, clumsy boy named Neville, a very excited set of brothers named Colin and Dennis who (to their horror) wanted photographs, two groups of giggling girls who were all flipping their hair flirtatiously, and a funny boy with dreadlocks that introduced himself as Lee Jordan.

Once dinner was through, it disappeared and was promptly replaced with a round of dessert that was equally as impressive as the main course.

"I could totally get used to this." Malik told Ryou, spooning mounds and mounds of ice cream onto his plate. "Really."

Once everybody was finished eating the dessert, the talking and laughter grew louder and louder and all the dishes disappeared. Malik disappointedly noticed that there wasn't a third round coming.

Professor Dumbledore stood at the front of the hall once again, and the students all grew quiet immediately.

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention." He proceeded to inform them of the rules, all of which sounded reasonable to Malik. Since he and his friends were under protection from this man, he had no intention of gallivanting off and breaking any of these rules.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Said woman was dressed almost entirely in pink, Malik noted, and bore a rather eerie resemblance to a fat toad.

Ellie leaned over to the boys to explain the angry looks that Harry and Ron were giving the new teacher. "Umbridge works for the ministry. She was at our trial, determined to get Harry and I kicked out. Watch out for her." Malik looked at Umbridge, shocked to recieve a warning regarding someone wearing so much pink and smiled so sickeningly sweetly. She suddenly rose, causing Dumbledore to stop his speech.

"_Hem, hem,_" She cleared her throat as though demanding everyone's attention. Malik was shocked. She was interrupting _Dumbledore_?

The ghastly woman proceeded to make a horribly long speech, addressing them as if they were stupid children. Malik instantly stopped paying attention, as did pretty well everybody else. Only Hermione and Ellie seemed to be paying attention. Even Yugi, who had an incredible attention span, had a dazed look in his eyes.

When she was finally finished, there was a halfhearted attempt at a round of applause, but nobody was really ready for it. Only Dumbledore, who had risen again, clapped convincingly enough.

"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating. Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held. . . "

"Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione, leaning in closer. "It explained a lot."

"Did it? It sounded like a load of waffle to me."

"There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle," Hermione said grimly, Ellie nodding fervently in agreement.

"There was?" Yugi asked, looking slightly shamefaced that he had missed it.

" 'Progress for progress's sake must be discouraged'? 'Pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'? " Ellie quoted darkly, shaking her head. Malik was quite amazed that she had remembered this word for word.

But it was wasted, as five blank faces stared back at her.

"It means that the ministry is interfering at Hogwarts!" Hermione cried. "Honestly!"

"Oh."

Ellie laughed. "I think that it is time for you lot to get to bed." She got up and stretched, hundreds of students doing the same as Dumbledore must have just dismissed them.

"Ron, we have to show the first years where to go!" Hermione cried anxiously, rounding up the first years.

**XXX**

"Come on, you three," Ellie said to the transfers. "You can come with Harry and I, we can get you there quicker." She didn't feel like battling the crowds of people going to bed, she was tired and anxious to unpack. Besides, she wanted to get Harry out before he blew his top at all the stares and whispering he was provoking.

The five of them pushed and shoved their way out of the great hall. Ellie noticed that the transfers were earning just as many stares as Harry, albeit these stares were out of curiousity, and were mostly given by girls.

Said girls were giggling left and right at the new boys, and they kept 'accidentally' bumping into them, and throwing Ellie dirty looks for walking with them. She groaned. So _this_ was how it was going to be? Ryou, Malik and Yugi were all very good looking, she thought, but it was ridiculous how the girls were all throwing themselves at them, especially when they were giving Harry and her such dirty looks immediately after.

Ryou and Yugi were both flaming red from all the attention, while Malik simply looked annoyed. _At least they weren't enjoying it,_ she thought approvingly, as she pulled aside a tapestry that led to a deserted secret passage.

Poor Harry looked like he was going to blow his top again.

"Oh, thank Ra," Malik said, scurrying in. Ellie quickly pulled the tapestry over the opening, shielding them from view. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody saw them go in as they were not followed.

"Not liking the attention?" She asked the boys, eyeing Harry nervously.

"No. Stupid girls," Malik muttered. "No offense." He said to Ellie, clapping her on the shoulder.

"None taken." Ellie looked over at Yugi and Ryou, who were both blushing even harder and avoiding her gaze, and Harry, who had stalked ahead. "You guys okay?"

Yugi mumbled a grunt of agreement, and Ryou met her eyes quickly and nodded fervently. Harry didn't answer, but Ellie didn't push him. She knew better.

"Come on, let's get you to the common room before everyone else gets there."

She took them through a few more secret passageways that Fred and George had showed her, and within minutes they were at the portrait of the fat lady.

Ellie's face dropped when they reached her. She didn't know the password. She had forgotten to ask Ron and Hermione. "Uh . . ."

Harry didn't know either. "Er. . ."

The fat lady smoothed her dress importantly. "No password, no entrance."

Harry cursed.

"Harry! Ellie!" A voice drifted from behind them, and Ellie turned to see Neville jogging towards them, waving a cactus over his head. "I know the password! Guess what it is? I'll actually be able to remember it this time- _Mimbulus mimbletonia_!"

He looked extremely proud of himself. "Thanks, Neville!" Ellie said, as Harry climbed through the portrait hole and went upstairs without a word. She frowned, but turned back to Neville. "Hey, have you met-"

"Yep!" Neville beamed. "We're going to be roommates." He told the transfers, ushering them through the portrait hole. "Uh, I think Harry's a little tired. I'll show you where our room is instead!"

"Okay! Thanks, Neville," Yugi said, beaming up at him.

"Thanks for saving our butts, El!" Malik said, ruffling her hair.

Ellie laughed and swatted his hand away. She could get used to Malik, he reminded her a lot of her brother Ollie.

She bade him and the rest of the boys goodnight, then watched as Neville led them up the stairs with a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like the idea of Harry and Ron sharing a room with the transfers. It seemed that the five boys couldn't get along for ten minutes without Ellie and Hermione around, let alone actually live together.

Also, Harry seemed to be itching for a fight again.

The students of Hogwarts did not exactly greet him enthusiastically, Ellie thought, leaning against the back of an armchair. Her only consolation was that the presence of Neville, Dean and Seamus might stop them from going at it completely.

"Hey, Ellie!" A voice yelled from across the almost-empty common room. Cormac Mclaggen, a large sixth year boy, approached her, grinning broadly and holding his arms aloft, almost as if he were trying to appear even _bigger_. "How was your summer?" He stood a little too close for comfort.

"It was good, Cormac. And yours?" She asked uncomfortably, wishing that she had gone upstairs when she had the chance.

"It was good. But it was _missing something_, if you catch my drift." He said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows. Ellie groaned internally. _Pig,_ she thought.

"So I'm thinking of trying out for Keeper this year. I was wondering if you and I could have some one on one training sessi-"

"Look, Cormac, I'm really tired and want to get to bed. We can . . . We can talk later." She said tiredly, squeezing past him and walking away.

Before she could get far, however, he grabbed her wrist tightly and slapped her behind.

"I look forward to it," He whispered huskily in her ear, releasing his grip on her wrist and allowing her to run up the stairs, face flaming.

So, he was up to this game again? Groping her when no one was around?

_Pig,_ she thought as she got to her room, greeting Pavarti and Lavender halfheartedly.

"Oh my god, Ellie, you're so lucky!" Pavarti squealed, while Lavender hung back on her bed, reading a magazine.

"I am?" She asked, mind still on Mclaggen.

"Yes! The transfers are so _hot._ And they were actually talking to _you._" She put a particularly negative emphasis on this last word.

"Yeah, I guess so. . ." She said, not really in the mood for this right now.

"Romilda Vane is already planning on asking one of them to Hogsmeade. She hasn't decided which one yet. Do you think that they'd go with her? And what about me? Do you think that they'll like me?" Pavarti asked, jumping on Ellie's bed and watching her begin to unpack. "Hey, why is your face so red?"

Ellie smiled halfheartedly, her roommate's cheerful attitude perking her up slightly. She could be cluelessly rude sometimes, but it was hard to stay mad at her. "I can only answer one question at a time, Pavarti."

Before Pavarti could repeat which question she deemed most important, Hermione walked in, looking ruffled.

"How'd it go?" Ellie asked, glad for an excuse to not have to answer Pavarti's questions.

"Oh, alright. They all just kept asking me about Harry." She rolled her eyes and sat down next to Pavarti on Ellie's bed.

Lavender, who had been utterly silent until then, looked over. "Asking what?" She asked.

Hermione gave her a suspicious look. "They asked about what had happened last June, and if I believed him-"

"So you do, then?"

"Of course I do." Hermione stood up slowly, giving Lavender a funny look. "Don't tell me that you don't?"

Pavarti was staring at them both, her mouth hanging open. Ellie was caught in the middle of them, praying that this wouldn't end in a fight. . .

"Of course I don't," Lavender snapped. "I mean, have you _read_ the Prophet lately? _They_ say that he's lying." She said this as if it settled the matter.

"The Prophet is full of rubbish," Ellie said, watching Pavarti retreat to her own bed out of the corner of her eye.

Lavender looked offended. "I think that Harry is a lying, attentio-"

"Keep your big fat mouth shut, Lavender. Don't talk about my friends like that." Hermione interrupted, staring her down.

Lavender scoffed huffily and drew her curtains around her bed angrily.

Pavarti giggled nervously. "So, how was your summer, Hermione?"

**XXX**

**Yeah, Malik got Gryffindor. I know a lot of you will disagree with me on that, but I have my reasons that will be explained later on.**

**This chapter was really just filler, but it was necessary filler. I am not satisfied in any way with it, mostly because a lot of it consists of scenes from the book that I couldn't really mess around with. **

**Anyways, now that I'm finished complaining, I'll leave y'all be. I hope you enjoyed it! **


	17. Chapter 17

**Since I was so dissatisfied with my last chapter, I started this one almost right away and I have to say that it's sitting a lot better with me than the last.**

**Also, before you guys dive into this one, I just wanted to let you guys know how I effed up on my last chapter. I uploaded the unedited version, most likely because I forgot to save the edited copy. Arrrrrgh. So, if you noticed an abundance of mistakes, that is why. I went back and fixed it, but unfortunately since I already had uploaded it I couldn't make the changes that I really wanted to. (Therefore I dislike that chapter even more now xD ) But you guys certainly do not have to reread that chapter. I didn't make any significant changes, it was basically rewording poorly worded sentences and fixing my many spelling mistakes. Rookie mistake. I'm so sorry though!**

**One more chapter dedicated to the fabulous Amber Raven, for toughing out her surgery like a true man. Feel better!**

**I don't own a thing!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 17**

"Does he think that he'll turn into a nutter if he stays in the same room with me for too long?" Harry's irritated voice woke Ryou up, and he sat up to see Seamus whip out of the door at top speed. He was shocked at their fight last night, although he and the other transfers stayed well out of it. Their best defense was to try and stay under the radar, granted with the reaction to their arrival last night, it was kind of useless, as Malik pointed out as they walked down the stairs to the common room.

"I mean, half the school knew realized who we were when you were being sorted, Ryou. So there's no point." He said, peeking at his reflection in the window they were currently passing. Ryou could tell that he was proudly checking out the red and gold Gryffindor Crest pinned to his robes.

Yugi laughed. "There is so a point! We don't need any more enemies."

"I don't think that Seamus is enemy material, he's just an ass."

Ryou agreed with both of them. The last thing that they wanted was to have even more people to have to constantly be looking over their shoulders for, but Seamus didn't seem dangerous at all.

They all laughed, and their discussion promptly ended as they entered the common room to find Ellie, Hermione, Ron and Harry gathered around a message board.

"Hey guys!" Yugi called from the stairs, earning them stares from every occupant in the room.

Hermione laughed. "Good morning, Yugi." Hermione said as they approached. "Hey Ryou, Malik."

They all exchanged pleasantries, and a few minutes later they were all walking down to breakfast together. Ellie, Ryou noticed, was very tired looking and wasn't saying much this morning. He was about to ask what was wrong, but was interrupted by Hermione asking Harry the very same question.

"You look really angry about something."

Harry didn't respond, so Ron did for him. "Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who."

Ellie's head perked up interestedly at this, but Hermione just sighed. "Yes, Lavender thinks so too." Ryou remembered Lavender as one of the giggling girls that approached them at the feast last night.

"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry asked angrily.

"No," Hermione replied calmly. "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Harry, because in case you haven't noticed, we're on your side."

Harry looked embarrassed. "Sorry."

"That's quite alright." Hermione replied, and there was an awkward silence for a few more minutes where Ryou decided that he really was not liking Harry's attitude at all. But he then remembered his promise to Ellie about looking past his temper, and decided to try to forget about it.

Ellie finally spoke up, asking the transfers about their classes.

"Well, McGonagall checked our review packs and told us that since we had covered the basics, we can join the fifth years as long as we keep our grades high enough." Yugi replied.

"We're all taking the basic classes, but I'm taking Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures as electives." Ryou said.

"I'm taking Ancient Runes, Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures." Malik said happily. Ryou knew that he would excel at Ancient Runes, as he was raised in a tomb that was covered in Runes.

"I'm taking Ancient Runes, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures too." Yugi said. Which were obvious choices, as he held the Millennium Necklace, and had a natural talent with creatures of all shapes and sizes.

"Wow, you guys are taking almost as many courses as Hermione," Ron gaped.

"Just because you two slack off doesn't mean-"

"That's not what I meant, Hermione!"

The pair continued to bicker all the way down to the great hall, where the group took their seats and gratefully helped themselves to breakfast. Seamus, Ryou noticed, did not look in their direction once. Lavender, however, seemed to be attempting to catch his eye. He determinedly kept his gaze on his plate, trying his damnedest not to blush.

"Hey Ryou," Malik elbowed him. "That girl over there is checking you out, buddy." He winked.

But, as everyone knows, when you are trying hard not to blush, it only brings it on with a vengeance. Ryou felt his face heat up. "No she's not." He had hoped that nobody would notice that.

He also very much wanted to see the look on Ellie's face at this, but he didn't have the gall to look at her right now. He instead settled on stuffing his face with eggs.

"Yes she is! Look, Ryou!"

"Malik, leave him alone," Yugi said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"That's the girl that Hermione had a row with last night," Ellie said, a hint of resentment in her voice. Ryou finally worked up the courage to look at her, and saw her glaring daggers down at Lavender, who was now obliviously fixing her hair in the reflection of a spoon.

The thought of Ellie being jealous hopefully floated through his mind, but then it burst. Of course Ellie wouldn't like Lavender, Ryou told himself, she insulted her best friend just last night. This had nothing to do with him. He bitterly stabbed the yoke of his egg with his fork, causing it to squirt Malik in the eye.

"Damnit, Ryou!" He cursed, rubbing it out.

"Mr. Ishtar! That kind of language will not be tolerated now that you are a member of my house!" Professor McGonagall came striding down the table at precisely the wrong moment. "This is your first and final warning. Next time there will be detention, Ishtar."

Malik grumbled something unintelligible.

Luckily, McGonagall didn't notice, as she was too busy handing out schedules.

"History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Yugi said excitedly. "That sounds fantastic!"

"No, it sounds like the worst Monday ever," Ron groaned, checking his own schedule. "Binns, Snape, Trelawney and that Umbridge woman all in the same day!"

"Is that bad?" Ryou asked, glad that the focus had switched from him.

Harry nodded. "Binns will bore you to tears, Snape is a righteous git, Trelawney is a fraud, and Umbridge is . . . Well, you know."

Ryou didn't know, but he didn't say so. He was just glad that Ron and Harry weren't acting as though they hated him. He nodded silently and stood. "Well, we'd better head off to class then."

Harry was certainly right about Professor Binns. Ryou instantly felt himself falling asleep as soon as he got over the shock of their teacher being a ghost. Bakura, on the other hand, seemed to be intensely fascinated with the subject, and kept mentally prodding Ryou to pay attention so he could hear.

-Sit a little closer next time, I can barely hear him from back here.-

-He assigned seats!-

-Let me take over so I can listen to him properly.-

-No! I think Ellie and Hermione know about you, it's too dangerous.-

-Well, if they already know then there's no point hiding me.-

-I'll pay attention then, okay Koe?-

Bakura certainly was being a lot nicer to Ryou these days, but he still drove him insane.

When the bell finally rang to signal the end of History of Magic, Ryou's head was buzzing with magical names and dates. He had already learned much of this from the review pack, but it was different this time because Bakura kept running everything over and over again through their mind.

The group hurried down to the dungeons where their potions class was to be held, and they lined up outside a foreboding looking door. The atmosphere among the Gryffindors was tense, especially when the Slytherins arrived.

Malfoy was obviously looking for a fight, and since he was flanked by almost a dozen members of his house, he had the courage to call out insults to Neville.

"Just ignore him, Neville." Yugi told him, standing tall.

Malfoy laughed and did an unkind imitation of Yugi's Japanese accent. Neither Yami or Yugi rose to the bait, they instead turned their back to him.

Malik, however, wasn't having it. "Awful brave now that you've got witnesses, aren't you Malfoy?" His face betrayed his anger, and Ryou was glad that there _were_ witnesses around to prevent him from doing anything stupid.

"You're one to talk, Ishtar. I didn't see any of your _fangirls _around when you-"

Luckily, he didn't get to finish that sentence as the door to their classroom banged open. Silence immediately reigned, and Professor Snape stood in the doorway. "Enter." When Malik passed, he grabbed his shoulder. "Do not think that because you are new that you will be granted any special treatment, boy." He sneered unpleasantly. "Nor because you are famous. Not Potter, not you." He released his, what looked to Ryou, very painful grip on Malik's shoulder, and let him in.

What followed was a very unpleasant class for Ryou and every other Gryffindor. Apparently being famous was not grounds for special treatment in Snape's eyes, but being in Slytherin was.

The class had the period to brew the Draught of Peace. With the threat of Snape hovering over them, many (Ryou included) brewed concoctions that were not even close to what they should have been.

Both Ellie and Hermione's potions looked exactly how the instructions on the blackboard described, and Ryou looked wistfully over at theirs, then eyed his own white sludge unhappily. When he was practicing brewing potions at Grimmauld Place, he had no problem. In fact, he excelled at potion making. Ryou suspected that the intimidating atmosphere that Snape and the other Slytherins provided had something to do with his sudden lack of skill.

When the bell rang signaling the end of class, Ryou sighed unhappily and bottled his potion. He brought it up to Snape's desk, and luckily the potions master didn't make a comment and he left without further issue.

The group made their way to the Great Hall for lunch, and they all bonded over abusing Snape for the hour. At least the transfers had found something that they could agree on with Harry and Ron, Ryou thought. They left the Great Hall feeling slightly more positive about each other.

Hermione bade them goodbye as they all headed up to Divination. Ryou was excited, he didn't care what Harry said about the teacher. The prospect of predicting the future excited him to no end.

Ryou was so excited that he climbed the many flights of stairs to the divination classroom without a single complaint, and even offered to hold Harry's books while he climbed the ladder.

The transfers settled down in cushy chaises at a table with Ellie, Harry and Ron, and tried not to fall asleep from the strong odor of incense that was wafting throughout the room.

"Good-day," said a woman wearing a shawl and had so many beads wrapped around her neck that she looked as though she were selling them at a festival. She had glasses that made her eyes seem 4 times their actual size, and she stood hunched over as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. This must be Trelawney, Ryou thought.

He listened to her spacey voice drawl through an introduction to their fifth year course, and set them to read the introduction of their textbooks.

Of course the reading took nearly all of the period, and in the last dregs of class she instructed them to partner up and interpret each others dreams. Harry and Ron, obviously of the same opinion that this class was a waste of their time, immediately began complaining about their assignment.

Ellie, who happened to be sitting in the middle of Ryou and Harry, turned to him and smiled. "Partner?" He nodded, happily scooting his chair closer to her so that they could share a book.

"So, do you want to go first or should I?" Ryou asked her awkwardly.

Ellie looked nervous, and told him that he could go first. "I never remember my dreams anyways," She explained, avoiding his gaze.

Ryou was no stranger to nightmares, but he certainly wasn't going to share that with Ellie. He decided to go with a seemingly pointless dream that he had had a few nights ago instead. "Well, I dreamt that I walked into my old school and everybody had new haircuts . . . What do you think that means?"

They spent the remainder of the class torturously trying to decide the subject of his dream (hair or school?) and then looking for the meaning in the Dream Oracle. Ryou was beginning to agree with Harry and Ron's opinion on the subject, as it seemed completely useless.

They met up with Hermione on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron complaining the whole time about the stupid dream diary that they were set.

The class went horribly. Umbridge had pretty well told them that her class was going to consist of theory, and nothing else. Ryou and the other transfers sat back and watched as Harry rowed with Umbridge. Ryou could tell that Malik wanted to jump in, not to defend Harry, but just to anger the teacher. But the look on Hermione's face clearly told the three of them to keep their mouths shut.

In the end Ryou was glad that they did, as Harry was assigned a week's worth of detention.

By the end of that day, Ryou was certainly beginning to change his mind about Hogwarts. It had seemed so exciting at first, but in the end it was still only a school that assigned a lot of homework.

**XXX**

After dinner that night, Harry had detention and Ron had blushed and ran off without an explanation, so the girls had taken the transfers to the library to start on their homework.

"How do you guys know your way around this place?" Yugi asked amazedly, as they led them through a series of corridors and staircases that moved. Ryou agreed completely, he knew that if the girls had left them alone for five seconds they would have gotten lost.

"Oh, Yugi, don't-"

CRUNCH.

Too late.

Bakura exploded with laughter inside Ryou's head.

"Are you alright?" Ellie gasped. "They're trick stairs. You've got to remember to jump those ones. I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you guys!"

Yugi laughed. "I'm fine. But, can you help me out?" He was knee deep in a fake stair, Ryou observed, trying not to laugh along with his yami. It was usually him that got caught in those situations. He and Malik each grabbed an arm and heaved. Yugi was light, so he came out easily.

"Anything else that we should watch out for?" Malik asked, grinning.

Ellie and Hermione shared a concerned glance, and looked up for some reason. Ryou looked up too, but didn't see a thing.

"Peeves," Hermione whispered. "He's the school's poltergeist."

Her explanation of the menace that was Peeves lasted them throughout the rest of the walk to the library. But then the librarian began throwing them nasty looks and hovering over their shoulders, so conversation was minimal throughout the rest of their stay.

Bakura, Ryou noticed, was listening in on every hushed word, and was reading every passage along with Ryou. He was being even more attentive than usual. He seemed restless, as though he were eager to be let out.

-Yes, Ryou. I haven't been let out for _days.-_

Ryou ignored him, and continued his work.

By the time the library closed and they were kicked out, Ryou was indeed very pleased with the amount of homework that he had accomplished. It seemed that all of his hard work at Grimmauld Place had paid off, because he was almost on par with the rest of the fifth years. He had understood mostly everything in his homework tonight, and only needed to ask Ellie and Hermione to verify a few things.

As the five of them walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Ryou realized that since it was almost curfew, the corridors were empty.

"So how did you boys like your first day?" Ellie asked them conversationally.

"The day was okay, it was the classes that can be improved upon." Malik said. "And the Slytherins could have, too."

"I don't know why you hate Slytherin so much, Malik!" Hermione shook her head, sounding a little bit angry to Ryou's ears. "You almost got put in there."

"It's what they represent."

Hermione stopped walking, and her face definitely turned angry. "What do they represent, then?"

"Hermione. . ." Ellie warned uselessly.

"You're kidding, right?" Malik asked.

Bakura instantly sniffed a fight, and started straining to be let out to join in.

"Of course not! Why do you hate Slytherin so much, Malik?"

"How do you not hate them?" Malik replied, seemingly getting angry at Hermione too. "Malfoy had you two _cornered_ on the train. Him and his . . . His gang. You should be grateful that we saved you." He shook his head incredulously.

"You're judging the entire house on his actions! And I don't need to be grateful, we could have handled-"

"Could have and would have are two very different things." _Uh-oh._ Bakura had taken over. This wasn't good.

Hermione's expression instantly turned to one of fear, and she frantically looked over at Ellie, whose expression mirrored her own.

-Bakura! You're scaring them.-

-They'll live. I just want to teach them a lesson.-

-No, you can't!-

-Shush.-

"I-I'm sorry?" Hermione asked, taking a small step back that did not go unnoticed by Bakura.

"You two keep running around _sticking your noses _where they don't belong. You were waiting for us to come along, so you could see what we would do. I am sick of it. Someone is _going to get hurt_."

**XXX**

"Someone is going to get hurt." Ryou's mouth was moving, but Ellie knew that it wasn't Ryou that was speaking these words. She was a little nervous to see his double come out, but she remembered when they had protected her and Hermione. Ellie didn't believe that he would hurt them.

"Bakura!" Yugi reprimanded, "Stop it." Once again, Yugi was the one speaking, but it was obvious from the deep voice that it was somebody else entirely behind the mask.

Ellie felt Hermione move a little bit closer to her, and they nervously watched to see what would happen next.

Malik, apparently forgetting his anger at Hermione, stepped in between the girls and Yugi and Ryou. "Come on, you two. We should go."

"I don't think so," Said Ryou's voice. He pushed Malik aside and stepped closer to the girls. "I have something to say."

"Then say it." Hermione's voice was steady and confident. Ellie was proud of her friend for sounding so collected when she knew she was terrified.

Yugi and Malik hung back threateningly, not stopping Ryou, but watching him in case he did try and hurt them. The knowledge that they were needed to keep Ryou in line wavered Ellie's confidence a little bit. Maybe Ryou's double had his own agenda, and they _should_ be worried after all.

"You should be thankful to your saviors." He smiled menacingly. "And Ishtar is right, you have good reason to hate Slytherin." He rounded on Hermione. "So why don't you?"

"I hate Malfoy, not the whole house." She told him, head still held high and the fear in her eyes was long gone.

"And what about you, Blondie?" He stepped close to Ellie, thoroughly invading her personal space. She was tempted to step back, but felt that if she showed him weakness he would only take advantage of it.

"What about me?" She stuck her chin out, standing as straight as she could to hopefully make up some of the difference in height.

"Where do your allegiances lie?"

"With my friends." She told him, hopefully sounding more confident than she felt.

"That is quite enough, Bakura." Yugi once again commanded in his deep voice. "These girls are our friends, remember?"

"I do not serve you," Ryou snapped at Yugi, whirling around on him instead.

"Anymore," Malik told him, eyes glinting meaningfully. _What did that mean?_ "Stop it, you two. They know enough, and you're not helping." He gestured to the girls.

"We don't know enough!" Hermione protested.

"We barely know a_nything,_" Ellie prompted, her eyes darting from one transfer to another.

Yugi chuckled. "You know more than enough."

Her and Hermione shared a confused glance.

Ryou whirled on them once again. "Keep your noses where they belong, and your mouths shut. _Or else._"

Or else what?

"You can't _threaten_ them, idiot, they're your friends." Malik told him, actually slapping him upside the head.

"Keep your hands off of my host!" Ryou snapped, punching Malik in the stomach. Malik gasped for air, and then raised his fist as though he were going to retaliate, but Ellie interrupted him.

"Host? So it's true then? You really aren't Ryou?" She asked. Malik froze mid-punch.

"And that's not really Yugi." Hermione pointed at Yugi, who had moved forwards to shield the girls from Malik and Ryou's fight.

"Shit." Malik said, straightening up.

"And are you really Malik? I haven't really noticed much of a difference in you." Hermione continued on, ignoring the shocked looks on all of their faces.

"Well?" Ellie prompted when none of them answered.

"I thought I made it clear," Ryou eventually said, threateningly stepping towards them. "To keep your noses where they belong."

"Well, to be fair Tomb Robber, you were the one who said it."

"Shut up Ishtar!"

_Tomb Robber?_

"You won't hurt us." Ellie told the 'Tomb Robber' confidently. "Ryou won't let you."

Malik burst out laughing. Ryou looked livid, but he didn't retaliate.

"You know what, El? I think you're right. He's gone soft lately." Malik told her.

Yugi shook his head. "I would not count on that. Bakura is fighting it, but it still has a hold on him, I believe."

"What has a hold on me?"

Yugi just shook his head, leaving every person present confused (or in Ellie and Hermione's cases, more confused).

"Pharaoh!" Ryou snapped, stepping towards him and reaching down the neck of his shirt. "Tell me, now."

_The items!_ Ellie thought. They were going to use the items that Ellie and Hermione had seen, the ones with the symbol that Ellie had been dreaming of every night.

Yugi stretched out his arms and actually pushed Ellie and Hermione back, trying to get them away from Ryou. Ellie prayed that he wouldn't send them back to that _place_ again. Malik reached inside his robes, presumably to pull out his own golden item.

But before he could pull out the odd ring Ellie knew that he was reaching for, His face changed. It went back to normal.

It was _Ryou_.

"Ryou!" She called, darting out from behind Yugi's protective stature and rushing towards her friend. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ellie. I am so so sorry." He looked over at Hermione, who was inching out from behind Yugi. "You too, Hermione. I'm sorry." He looked down at his shoes.

Ellie threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "It's okay, Ryou." She told him. He stiffened under her grasp, and then relaxed slightly. But he did not hug her back.

When she awkwardly pulled back, Ellie noticed that Yugi had gone back to normal, but she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw his twin standing next to him. No, not his twin, his _double_. He had a translucent appearance. He looked to be the same consistency as a ghost, but he had color and was not floating in the air.

"You're getting stronger, Ryou." He was looking at Ryou, ignoring Ellie and Hermione's gapes.

"Wh-what. . . How do you do that? Who are you?" Hermione stuttered, looking at him.

Yugi frowned. "We can't tell you that, Hermione."

His double nodded grimly. "But you may call me Yami. I am a spirit."

"A spirit of what?" Hermione asked. But Yami merely shook his head, signifying that he couldn't tell her.

"Is that what controls you, Ryou? A spirit?" Ellie asked him.

Ryou nodded sadly. "Yeah. We call him Bakura. He isn't as . . . nice as Yami."

"Malik?" Hermione asked.

"I don't have one." Anymore.

"So that means that your powers don't come from these spirits, then." Hermione said.

Yami smiled and nodded. "You are very perceptive, Hermione." He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then frowned. "You do know too much though."

"We won't tell anybody!" Ellie said.

"At this point, we're not worried about you telling people." Yugi said, smiling. "We do trust you."

"Then why won't you tell us?" Hermione asked.

"Because it will put _you _in danger." Ryou replied darkly, almost placing a hand on Ellie's shoulder, but then thinking better of it and pulling away.

"If you're talking about Voldemort, we can handle -"

"No, we're not." Malik said. "There are other enemies out there. Trust me, you are better off not knowing."

"If you think that we're going to be satisfied with only knowing half of the story, then you are sorely mistaken." Hermione told them.

They all looked amused, but not worried. "You may do research if you like, Hermione. But I doubt that you will find anything that will answer your questions." Yami told her.

"You'd be surprised," she muttered.

But a familiar shadow of a cat hit the wall around the corner, and Mrs. Norris trotted in, mewing loudly and darting off to find her master.

"Uh-oh, it's past curfew now. We'd better get back to Gryffindor Tower before Filch gets here."

That ended the discussion, but neither Hermione intended to let the issue go.

**XXX**

-What did you do that for?- Ryou demanded his yami later that night, whilst pretending to be asleep.

-I wanted to be let out.-

-But now they know _so_ _much_. It's too dangerous for them!-

-So what?-

-I don't want them getting hurt because of me, Koe!-

The spirit grunted, but did not answer.

-Why can't you just be nice to them?- The question was childish, but it was for that very reason that Ryou was answered.

-Being nice makes you weak, Ryou.-

-Then why have you been being nice to me?- Ryou had asked that question once before and had been rejected, but he decided to try again.

Bakura was silent for a moment, and then answered slowly, thoughtfully. -I have come to realize that in order for us to function properly, I must have your best interests at heart.-

-What do you mean, function properly?-

-I cannot exist without you, Ryou.-

Ryou was silent as he digested this simple, yet obvious bit of information.

-Oh.- He thought for a bit longer. -Was there a reason for this revelation?-

-Yes.-

-Are you going to tell me?-

-No.-

-Does this mean that you'll be nice to Yugi and the Pharaoh now? And Malik?-

-No.-

-What about Ellie?-

-Absolutely not.-

-Why?-

-Because I do not approve of your feelings towards her.-

Ryou didn't dignify that with a response.

-Ryou?- The spirit asked a few minutes later.

-Yes, Koe?-

-I'm sorry.-

-For what?-

-For everything. For ruining your life.-

More silence in which Ryou didn't answer.

-Happy birthday.-

-You remembered? Thank you, Koe.-

Ryou didn't know what else to say, but he rolled over and fell asleep with a small smile on his face.

**XXX**

When Bakura returned to his soul room a few minutes later, it was even lighter still.

He realized that he liked the way that he could see everything, and the way his shadow appeared to be smaller than he was.

**XXX**

**So happy with all the events of this chapter. I really really hope that you guys enjoyed it.**

**Also, I would love to thank Locondra Timbernova for reminding me of Ryou's birthday. I am truely indebted to you. You guys won't even believe how stupid I felt when she pointed out the connection between the first day of classes and September 2nd. **

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey y'all! I would just like to dedicate this chapter to the lovely and beautiful JKR herself, as it's her birthday today. Harry's as well. Not that they'll ever read this. But if they do, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! C:**

**Disclaimer: What you do recognize, I don't own. And what you don't recognize: I don't own either.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 18**

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Asked Ellie, as her and Hermione hurried into the library.

"We're going to look up everything we can find on Ancient Egypt."

"You can do the reading, Hermione. I'm going to write Bill." Ellie said, wincing at the thought of unnecessary research to do on top of all their homework.

After putting their heads together and reliving their conversation with the transfers the previous night, the two had deduced that since they were throwing around terms like 'Pharaoh' and 'Tomb Robber' they had to be referring to Egypt. Besides, Malik was native to Egypt, and both Ron and Bill were positive the eye that marked their items was from there. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"Be careful what you say," Hermione whispered to Ellie as she pulled out her parchment and quill. "We promised that we wouldn't tell."

"Of course!" Ellie nodded. "I'll make it sound like a project for Ancient Runes."

Hermione selected a few books from the shelves, and took a seat next to Ellie. They both worked in silence for the next little bit.

Writing a letter to Bill asking for information, without actually giving anything away was a lot harder than Ellie originally thought. She actually found herself glancing wistfully over at Hermione, who was eagerly flipping pages and taking notes on Merlin knows what.

She eventually finished her letter, and showed it to Hermione who read it quickly and gave it her stamp of approval.

"Good, now you can get started on this," She thrust a huge book towards Ellie, whose face fell.

"I was hoping that I could go mail-"

"No. The library closes in half an hour and we're not allowed checking these books out."

"Why not?"

"They're too old. Now stop putting it off and get started!"

Ellie scowled, but did as she was told.

She opened the book, and immediately lost herself in the contents. It was not, as she had anticipated, boring. In fact, Ellie found everything she was reading quite interesting. Sure, there wasn't anything that was helpful to their cause, but she was enjoying herself.

Ellie was quite sorry when the library closed and Madame Pince booted them out the door. They had just enough time to make it to the Owlery and back without breaking curfew.

Hermione sighed. "Well that was a complete waste of time! The only new thing I learned was that the Egyptians mourned their cats by shaving off their eyebrows."

"Excuse me?"

Both girls turned around to see a very bewildered, yet amused looking Yugi clutching a letter.

Ellie blushed, but Hermione beamed. "Oh, hi Yugi. We were just researching Ancient Egypt."

Yugi did not look surprised, in fact he looked like he was about to laugh. But Ellie noticed a small flicker of worry in his eyes. "Did you have any luck?"

They both shook their heads, Hermione scowling. Ellie almost laughed herself at the look on her face.

"We were just heading to the Owlery to mail something." She told him, gesturing to her letter.

"Me too." Yugi smiled.

"You're a little far from the Owlery, Yug." Ellie laughed, as the three fell in step to walk together.

He looked at the ground sheepishly. "I got lost," He mumbled.

"Well it's a good thing you found us, then." Hermione said, leading him behind a tapestry that led to yet another secret passageway.

"You guys sure know a lot of secret passages," Yugi mused, raising an eyebrow.

Ellie bit back a laugh and forced herself not to meet Hermione's gaze. "They can be pretty useful," She said, thinking of all the times that they'd snuck around in the past.

Not that they should take credit for the passageways, a lot of what they knew came from the Marauder's Map. But Ellie wasn't ready to share _that_ information with just anyone.

The three of them made small talk the rest of the way to the Owlery. As soon as they walked in, a beautiful tawny owl swooped down and rested on Yugi's shoulder. He stroked her beak affectionately.

Ellie was immediately distracted by her own owl landing on her shoulder. "Hey, Genevieve," She cooed, petting her owl much in the same way that Yugi was stroking Akil. "You up to a trip to London?"

Genevieve tilted her head incredulously at Ellie, as though to say that she was always up to it and was offended her owner thought otherwise. Glancing sideways to make sure Yugi wasn't listening, Ellie took a few steps away to be sure she wasn't overheard. "I need you to take this to Bill Weasley." She tied her letter to her leg and pulled an owl treat out of her pocket. Genevieve gobbled it up instantly and fixed her amber eyes on Ellie, as though begging for more. "Hey, you can have more when you get back. Don't want you getting too fat to fly."

Genevieve looked just about as pissed off as an owl could get. She nipped Ellie's finger hard enough to break skin. With a powerful flap of her wings, was out the window and flying off into the darkening horizon.

"Ouch!" Ellie cried, cradling her bleeding hand. "What'd I say?" She asked Hermione, who only laughed and shook her head.

"You insulted her!" Yugi chastised. "You have to treat her with respect." He couldn't help but laugh. He was very good with his owl, Ellie noticed. And it wasn't like he had been sending letters with them for five years like she had. He was just a natural with animals.

"Are you ready for a long trip, Akil? Take your time, and feel free to rest a bit at Grampa's. He won't mind. Don't forget you've got letters there for Anzu, Jonouchi, and Honda as well." Yugi said to his owl, tying a very fat letter to her leg. "Do me a favor and scare Jonouchi. He won't know what hit him." Yugi smiled fondly. Akil hooted and nipped his ear (a lot more gently than Genevieve had done to Ellie's hand) before flying off gracefully into the night.

"Friends of yours?" Hermione gently asked Yugi, who was leaning against the window and staring absently into the rapidly darkening evening.

Yugi turned to face them, smiling broadly. "The very best. I miss them." He then frowned. "It will be a long time before I see them though, we can't go home for Christmas. It's too dangerous for them to be associated with me."

Ellie was not used to seeing sweet Yugi's face looking so troubled, and she didn't know how to react.

"What are they like?" Hermione asked.

Yugi tilted his head, and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, Honda and Jonouchi are both very loyal, brave, funny, and protective. They've helped me out of a lot of tight spots." He averted his gaze for a moment, then looked slightly uncomfortable. "They remind me a lot of Harry and Ron, actually. Because they can be very-"

"Stupid?" Offered Ellie.

"Close-minded?" Hermione said at the same time.

Yugi laughed. "I was thinking stubborn, but that works too."

"And what about Anzu?" Asked Hermione, with that trademark glint in her eye that says she knows more than she's letting on.

Yugi blushed. "Anzu and I have been very close for a very long time."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Ellie asked, grinning at the blush on his face.

"No!" Yugi was quick to deny, which told Ellie exactly how Yugi felt about Anzu. "She's just . . . She's always been there for me. Even before Jonouchi and Honda, she's always stuck up for me. She's kind, funny, and talented. She's amaz- a really good friend." Yugi blushed again, looking at his shoes.

Ellie and Hermione shared a knowing grin.

"Is she pretty?" Ellie asked, not quite teasing Yugi, but not entirely letting him off the hook either.

He nodded his head fervently.

"Can they. . . I mean, are they like you? And Ryou and Malik?" Asked Hermione, lowering her voice and looking around.

"Well, Jonouchi is a really talented duelist. But no, none of are like us."

The trio began walking back to Gryffindor Tower, still engrossed in conversation.

"How come you haven't told us about them before, Yugi?" Ellie asked as they climbed a set of stairs. "Watch your step." He had almost stepped in another trick stair.

Yugi hopped the fake, and smiled gratefully at her. "Well, the thing is that we didn't really know if we could, um, well if we could trust you guys." He looked embarrassed. "Professor Dumbledore told us we could, but we didn't even know if we could trust him."

Ellie wondered what changed their minds about trusting them.

"I was just trying to protect them. If Voldemort knows that he could get to me through them, well . . ." Yugi trailed off, looking upset at the very idea of his friends being put in danger because of him.

"And you thought that we would tip him off." Said Hermione dryly.

"I didn't think that you guys would!" Yugi said quickly, his anxious face broadcasting nothing but the truth. "I just . . . Had to be careful. My friends mean everything to me."

"It's okay, Yugi. We understand," Hermione told him, smiling genuinely down at him.

"And back at Grimmauld Place, we weren't exactly. . . Well, you know." He waved his hands uncomfortably, as though that would explain the awkward situation back at headquarters. "We just weren't sure."

"By 'We', you mean. . . ?" Asked Ellie.

"Well, myself and Yami, as well as Ryou and Malik."

"Not Bakura?" Ellie couldn't help asking. She was curious about the so called 'not so nice' spirit that sometimes took control of Ryou.

Yugi laughed bitterly. "Yami says that Bakura couldn't care less. Which was more or less true until recently."

The girls shared a confused look. "What do you mean?" Asked Hermione.

Yugi shook his head, smiling. "I really shouldn't be telling you guys this."

"Yes you should!"

"Come on, Yugi! We can handle ourselves!"

He rolled his eyes, but appeared to be trying very hard to hold back a smile. "Fine. Not even Ryou or Bakura know this, but we -meaning myself, Yami and Malik- think that Bakura is being," he struggled for the right word, "Influenced by someone. Or something."

"So you're saying that the spirit possessing Ryou is being possessed?" Hermione asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes. Well, no. Bakura isn't _possessing_ Ryou, he just, um, takes control sometimes." He thought a moment. "And Bakura isn't being possessed either. We think. It's as if something has been influencing him for some time, and now it's lessened. Yami can sense it. It's not gone altogether, but it's made room for Bakura to actually be, um, well to be not so not nice." He shook his head. "Does that make sense?"

Hermione immediately nodded her head fervently, but Ellie took a minute to work out what Yugi had said and she nodded slowly too.

"Is that why he scared Malfoy off on the train?" Ellie asked. "Because that doesn't seem like something that Bakura would normally do." She thought back to how he had threatened Malfoy into staying away from her.

"Oh yes, definitely." Yugi said, nodding earnestly. "Bakura would never have thought to protect anyone other than Ryou, before. But even that was for his own benefit. He needs Ryou to exist in our world." He paused for a moment, obviously listening to something Yami was saying. "Yami believes that something happened to make him strong enough to push the influence away."

They had finally arrived at Gryffindor tower, and their conversation abruptly stopped as they made their way into the common room to join Malik and Ryou by the fire.

The girls spent the last minutes of the evening helping the boys with their homework. Ellie couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride, they were doing so well. Especially Ryou. Ellie thought that if he had been at Hogwarts as long as they had he would have been smarter than even Hermione at this point.

It was weird being around him, though. Especially after what Yugi had just said. Hearing confirmation that the two boys were sharing their minds with dark spirits was a lot to take in, and Ellie had barely had enough time to digest that before she was given even more crazy information.

Poor Ryou, she thought. He looked content enough, reading a book in front of the fire, his adorable little kitten curled up on his lap. But Ellie couldn't stop thinking about what he must have gone through with Bakura controlling most of his life. She wondered for the first time what his home life was like. Did he have friends like Yugi did? What about his family? What were they like?

With a slight pang of something Ellie didn't recognize, she wondered for the first time if he had a girlfriend back home.

Ellie didn't realize that she was staring at Ryou until a tanned hand was waved in front of her face. "Yo, earth to Ellie. You awake in there?"

She started, and jerked her gaze away from Ryou, who was curiously looking over in her direction. "Yeah, sorry. I guess I just zoned out." She was rattled, it wasn't like her to stare like that. "What do you need, Malik?"

"Can you give me a hand with this potions homework?" Out of the three transfers, Malik was the one that was struggling the most. And seeing as potions was Ellie's best subject, she was only too happy to be of assistance.

"Of course, let me see," Ellie got up and went to sit next to him on the couch. She examined the homework and explained it to Malik as slowly as she could. The boy wasn't stupid, in fact he was quite smart, but when Ellie was talking about potions she sometimes couldn't help but get caught up in her explanations. As a result, she lost people frequently.

"Do you get it?" She finished, leaning back and looking at Malik. She furrowed her eyebrows. He looked quite dazed. Almost like she had a second ago. Maybe she hadn't explained that slowly enough.

"Malik?" When she still didn't have his attention, she repeated his action earlier and waved her hand in front of his face. Hermione, Yugi and Ryou were all watching by this point. "Malik! Were you paying attention at all?" She shook his shoulder.

Finally, the physical contact seemed to break him of his daze. He shook his head and looked confused. "I really don't get this potions homework, Ellie. Could you give me a hand?"

They all stared at him. "Malik, I just did." Ellie said after a moment's silence.

"No you didn't," He insisted. "I think I would know."

"Are you feeling alright, Malik?" Ryou asked.

"I'm fine!" He looked annoyed, and turned towards Ellie again. "Now will you just explain it to me?" He snapped, thrusting the parchment into her hands.

"Malik, she just did." Yugi said calmly.

"Maybe all the stress is getting to you. I can take you to Madame Pomfrey for a calming draught," Hermione offered, eyebrows knitting together worriedly.

"I don't need a calming draught!" Malik yelled, causing people sitting around them to stop what they were doing and stare.

Ellie was actually getting quite worried, not just because Malik was kind of scary and she was only sitting a foot away, but she was worried _for _him. What if there was something wrong?

"Malik, it's okay," She said hastily, spreading out the potions homework on her lap. She didn't want him to draw any more attention. "Look, I'll show you . . ." Ellie nervously repeated her earlier explanation, aware of the eyes of Yugi, Ryou and Hermione on them. Malik did calm down, and after a few minutes of tenseness he resumed his normal cheery attitude, but the incident had certainly shook all of them up.

**XXX**

The next day, Malik was a nervous wreck.

At breakfast, a bleary eyed Ellie asked him why he was so jumpy after he knocked over his orange juice when Harry and Ron sat down beside him.

"I'm not jumpy!" He scoffed, and thankfully Ellie seemed too tired to argue the point. He deduced that she was not much of a morning person.

In transfiguration, he almost punched Pavarti Patil in shock when she 'accidentally' brushed up against him.

Then in charms, he was so distracted that he accidentally set Neville's desk on fire when he was supposed to be silencing a toad.

Malik didn't know what was wrong with him. It was like his body knew something that he didn't, because he was anxious as hell. He couldn't focus on anything.

Malik was thanking Ra as the minutes ticked by in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was the last class of the day, and he was restless. He was never able to completely force himself into reading the textbook like Umbridge assigned, but today he couldn't even pay attention long enough to finish a sentence.

When the final bell rung, he wanted to jump for joy. Malik packed up his things as quickly as he could, and was ready to sprint out the door when the most unwelcome sound ever met his ears.

"Misters Ishtar, Muto, and Bakura, I need you to stay behind for a moment, please." Umbridge said, smiling sweetly at them.

Ellie met his eyes curiously, and was quite obviously taking her time packing her things in hopes to hear what Umbridge wanted to say.

"Miss Milton, I'd advise you to get out or I'll give you detention. We can't have Mr. Potter feeling lonely now, can we?" She chuckled sweetly.

Ellie didn't answer, and instead gathered her things quickly and quietly. Ryou looked as though he was actually going to say something to Umbridge in her defense, but Ellie shook her head slightly as she walked by. "Don't drink anything she gives you," She whispered.

Umbridge followed Ellie to the door, and shut it behind her. She smiled sickeningly, and gestured for the boys to follow her to her desk.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" She asked, waving her wand and conjuring up a steaming kettle and four mugs.

"No, thank you," Yugi said politely.

"Oh, I insist." She busied herself pouring the tea into the mugs. "Cream?"

The boys all nodded, and she poured cream into all of their cups, but not her own. "Too heavy for me," she simpered, and took a gulp of her own black tea.

Something told Malik that the cream was the ingredient that he didn't want to drink, and he, Yugi and Ryou all stared at their tea without touching it.

"Well, drink up!"

Malik slowly picked up his tea, and pretended to take a sip, but his lips remained firmly shut. He made sure not to let a drop in, and he carefully set his still full cup behind a stack of papers on her desk so she couldn't tell. Yugi and Ryou followed suit, and Malik was happy to see their cups were equally as full as his.

"Excellent!" She simpered, folding her hands and settling further into her chair. "Now why don't you boys take a seat?" She waved her wand, and chairs scooted themselves out from under desks and zoomed into their legs, knocking them down into sitting positions.

Malik scowled. He was perfectly capable of sitting down himself.

Umbridge examined them thoroughly for a minute, her smile never faltering. All three boys were growing steadily more uncomfortable under her gaze. _What did she want?_

"Why are you here?" She finally asked.

"Why are we here?" Yugi repeated slowly, eyebrows knitting together confusedly.

Umbridge tilted her head inquisitively. "Do you want me to explain the question, Mr. Muto? Perhaps you need so put more work into your English."

Malik felt a small twitch of anger. Yugi's English was fine, and they all knew it.

Yugi's face flamed, but he shook his head. "I understand the question, Professor. What I meant to ask was, what do you mean by that?"

"Why are you at Hogwarts, and not Mahoutokoro*? My sources tell me that there are, in fact, spaces left at that school."

Malik blanched. Did she _actually_ look into this?

"We don't know, professor." Ryou answered. "Professor Dumbledore only approached us this year with the knowledge that we were wizards." His face was the picture of innocence, and Malik would have believed him himself had he not known the truth.

"Are you sure that you don't know?" Umbridge narrowed her eyes, and glanced over at the tea kettle.

"Positive."

"But what about this silly card game?" The three boys flinched at her description of Duel Monsters. "You three are the best in the world. Is that a coincidence?"

"Must be, professor." Yugi replied, pretending to take another big drink of his tea. Malik didn't know how Yugi and Ryou were acting so polite and composed to her, as he was livid. She was prying into their lives, and obviously had attempted to drug them with something in the tea. Malik was just glad they had been warned about it.

"Why don't you boys have more tea?" Umbridge asked, her voice rising a few pitches.

They all pretended to drink some more.

She fixed her gaze on Ryou then, and Malik took the opportunity to empty some of the contents of their cups into a nearby plant.

"Where's your father, Ryou?" It was weird hearing her address Ryou by his first name. She must be trying to relate to him. Malik almost laughed, because he knew it wouldn't work.

"My father is on an archeological dig in Egypt." He replied quietly.

Malik knew that this was a soft spot for Ryou, so he jumped in. "Why do you care?"

"You will address me as 'Professor', or 'Ma'am', Mr. Ishtar." Umbridge snapped at him.

"Why do you care, _Ma'am_?" Malik spat angrily. He was quickly getting tired of this awful woman's games.

"I care about all of my students." She simpered sweetly, in sharp contrast to her attitude thirty seconds ago. "Now, Ryou. I've read your file, and it says your mother and sister Ana had an accident. I am terribly sorry, dear."

_Ryou has a sister?_

"Her name is Amane." Ryou said quietly, averting his gaze and going deathly pale.

_Ryou has a sister?_

"You have a sister?" Malik asked stupidly. He was too shocked to be tactful about it.

"Mr. Bakura _had _a sister, Mr. Ishtar," Umbridge was smiling. She was _smiling. _She was _enjoying_ this. Malik was seeing red. "His mother and Ana died in a car accident 3 years ago."

"Her name is Amane!" Ryou shouted, standing up and slamming his fists against the table.

Right now, Malik didn't care that Ryou had never ever told him that he had had a sister that died 3 years ago with his mother. All he cared about was this _bitch _was torturing Ryou about it. And was _still smiling._

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Malik demanded her, standing up next to his friend. "What is _wrong_ with you? How are you _enjoying_ this?"

_That _wiped the smile off of her face. She stood up too, although both boys were so much taller than her that it hardly made a difference. "How _dare_ you use language like that in my-"

"How dare he?" Yugi asked incredulously, standing up on Ryou's other side. "How dare _you _insult _Amane's_ memory like that?" He put particular emphasis on her name, making it clear that he knew Umbridge had called her Ana on purpose.

Malik glanced over at Ryou, whose face had crumpled in pure sorrow. The rage was long gone, and he was so pale he looked as though he was about to pass out. It was seeing the pure defeat in his friend's face that did it.

Malik snapped.

He didn't even try to stop the Shadows that erupted from him. In fact, he encouraged them. He wanted that bitch to suffer as much as possible.

Not being familiar with the power of the Shadows, Umbridge luckily didn't even see what hit her.

But Malik did. So did Ryou and Yugi.

The Shadows hurdled at Umbridge at full speed, traveling the short distance across the desk and slamming into her with enough force to send her flying ten feet into the brick wall behind her.

Framed pictures of cats rained down all over her, mewling piteously.

Malik instantly regretted what he had done. He sunk down into his chair, and buried his face into his hands.

He heard both Yugi rush over to check Umbridge, and Ryou running out the door.

"She's breathing." He heard Yami's voice. Malik raised his head to see that Yami had taken over, and was crouched over their teacher.

Showing a feat of strength that would have been impossible for Yugi, Yami heaved Umbridge's limp form over and into her chair. He then waved his wand, returning all the picture frames to their original spots on the wall.

"Malik." He said.

No response.

"Malik!"

"What?" Malik finally answered. He rubbed his eyes, and tried to pull himself out of the funk that he had just sunk into.

"You're going to have to wipe her memory."

He didn't know if he was going to be able to do that simple task without causing that bitch any more harm.

**XXX**

*** Mahoutokoro = Japan's wizarding school. I didn't think there was an actual one mentioned in the series, but I googled it on the off chance that there was. Anyways, Pottermore mentioned this at one point. Mahou = witchcraft or magic in Japanese, and tokoro = site or place. I love the internet!**

**Ugh. Don't you just hate Umbridge? I feel terrible for Ryou, yet I'm the one causing these things to happen to him. :C**

**Umbridge attempting to give the transfers Veritaserum is a lovely character trait that I stole from JKR. Cause, as we all know, she is known to do this.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey hey! Another chapter for you guys. The first half is kinda heavy, so I gave you a treat for the second half. But it's a surprise, so read on to find out. C:**

**I own nothing! Not Harry Potter, Yu-Gi-Oh, Hogwarts, Quidditch, or any form of Duel Monsters that may or may not pop up in this story.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 19**

Malik didn't care about dinner, and the second that he wiped Umbridge's memory of the whole event, he made a beeline straight for the boys dormitory.

Since he had left Yugi in the dust, and everyone else was down at dinner, he was left alone in his thoughts.

There were three of them plaguing his mind at the moment.

The first was that Umbridge was completely out of line, and they had to keep an eye on her. She seemed pretty desperate to find out the real reason why Malik, Ryou, And Yugi were at Hogwarts, and they could under no circumstances let her find out who they really were and what they could do.

It was pretty clear that she took a sick pleasure in exercising her authority over her students, abusing it and them in the process.

She was dangerous.

The second was his shock over hearing that Ryou had a sister.

Not only _that_, but she and their mother had died in some sort of accident three years ago.

Poor Ryou. Malik had known that his family was never around, but he just assumed that his mother was off working somewhere, like his father. Ryou never spoke of it, so Malik had naively assumed that it didn't bother him. But judging by Ryou's outburst to Umbridge, and the way he had paled the second she had mentioned his family, it bothered him. A lot.

Malik's third thought was that something was severely wrong with him.

He had been denying it for too long, but there was no getting around it now. Marik was getting stronger. And Malik knew that it was the magic in Hogwarts. He could feel him just _feeding_ off of it.

Luckily, Malik was sure that Marik was still safely imprisoned in the deepest recesses of his mind.

But certain aspects of him were shining through. Like yesterday, when Ellie was explaining the potions homework to him. They told him that she explained it to him already, but he had no recollection of it. And then he got mad. He got _so mad_.

He had just hated them for making him feel so stupid, until he just snapped and yelled at Hermione. Of course Malik knew what was happening, but he couldn't stop it. He couldn't calm down until they had dropped the subject and Ellie had nervously explained it to him for the second time.

He then went on to pretend that nothing had happened, and had even brushed off Yugi and Ryou's questions later that night when they were alone. He didn't want to draw any attention to it, because he was in denial.

But after he had attacked Umbridge, there was no denying it. Hogwarts was making Marik stronger.

With a sigh, Marik rolled off his bed and peeled off his robe and his uniform shirt, walking over to the mirror and turning so that he could examine his back.

The scars looked the same as ever. They were faded, yet still obvious enough to make sure that Malik never, _ever_, forgot.

It was strange, though. Malik felt as though they should be inflamed, or even seeping fresh blood. The day that he had gotten these scars was the very same day that Marik was created, and it seemed wrong that they should remain so insignificant when Marik was once again rising to power.

He reached his arm around and ran his fingers over the raised scars. The puckered skin that he hated so much had grown to be a part of him, and he wondered who would he be had he not been born the eldest Ishtar boy?

The door to the dormitory banged opened just then, and Malik desperately grabbed his robe to cover his bare back. He didn't make it in time to cover up, but it didn't matter because the intruders were Yugi and Ryou.

"Oh," He said, throwing the robe across the bed and flopping down onto it. "It's just you."

Ryou averted both of their gazes and made a beeline for his bed, where he immediately yanked his curtains shut.

Malik wasn't really in the mood to try and draw him out at the moment, so he left that to Yugi and sat back and watched.

"Ryou! Come on, I didn't go to all that trouble to find you just to have you hide again," He pleaded, following him over and opening the curtains. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Malik sat up in order to see Ryou's face better.

He was indeed very pale, a lot paler than usual. He wouldn't meet any of their eyes, and looked like he was thinking very hard about his answer.

"I didn't thin-" He sighed. "I just don't like to talk about it."

Neither Malik or Yugi wanted to prompt Ryou for more information, but he could obviously sense that they were desperate to know what had happened.

"My mother and Amane died in a car crash," He whispered.

"I'm sorry," Malik said.

Ryou didn't say anything.

There was a horrible silence for the next few minutes. Nobody wanted to break it by saying the wrong thing.

"Thank you," Ryou finally said, looking up at first Malik, then Yugi.

"For what?"

"For sticking up for me. For us."

Malik's stomach lurched. Ryou didn't realize. Ryou didn't know that he had completely lost all sense of himself because Marik was getting stronger.

Of course he didn't realize. He was kind of preoccupied at the moment.

But Yugi did. Yugi was staring at him with that gaze that told Malik that Yami was right there, speculating along with him.

"Anytime," Malik said.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Ryou looked up, his pale face taking on a tiny bit of color at his request.

"Of course not!" Yugi said. "Malik wiped Umbridge's memory. You can forget about what happened tonight."

Ryou shook his head, smiling sadly. "I don't want to forget." He said, standing up and walking over to his nightstand. He opened the drawer and pulled out a box.

The box looked as though it was full of paper, but Ryou rifled through it to the very bottom and pulled out a pair of cracked glasses, a golden locket, and a photograph.

"These are hers," He said, showing them the glasses and the locket. Ryou actually looked happy, as though holding these small trinkets of his past could bring her back.

Ryou then held up the photograph. "This is her. She was 11." Malik got up off of the bed and walked over to get a closer look.

And he understood as soon as he saw the girl in the photograph. "Oh."

**XXX**

The next afternoon, Ryou was sitting around the fire with Yugi, Malik, Harry, Ron and Hermione. He was trying not to think about how he had opened up so much to Yugi and Malik yesterday, but he had to admit that he did feel a lot better, and a lot closer to them.

The tension between them and Harry and Ron had lessened considerably, and they could now all sit together without breaking into constant fights.

"Um, Harry?" Ellie approached them, an anxious look on her face.

"Yeah?" Harry looked up from his potions essay, seemingly glad for an interruption. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong with me. . . Have you talked to Angelina yet?" Ellie was anxiously fiddling with a lock of her hair, and glancing around the common room.

"No, why?"

He didn't need Ellie to answer his question, though.

"Oi! Potter!" An angry girl approached, and stood next to Ellie.

Harry scowled. "What now?"

"I'll tell you _what now_! How come you've landed yourself in detention for five o'clock on Friday?"

"Angelina, it's not his fault, she really was wretched-" Ellie jumped in.

"I don't care whose fault it is, Ellie!" She snapped, and then rounded on Harry. "Do you know what's this Friday, Harry?"

Harry's face took on the look of somebody who had just received some really bad news. He groaned. "Keeper tryouts!"

"_Now_ he remembers! Didn't I tell you I wanted to do a tryout with the _whole team, _and find someone who fitted in with _everyone?_ Didn't I tell you that I booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided that you're not going to be there!" Angelina then proceeded to demand that Harry get his detention switched (which was really unreasonable in Ryou's opinion, considering that it _was Umbridge_) and stormed off.

"What's Quidditch?" Yugi asked eagerly, ignoring the tortured look on Harry's face. "Is it a game?"

"Blimey! You've never heard of Quidditch?" Ron gasped, eyes wide. "It's only the best game ever invented!"

Ryou somehow doubted that, and by the look on Yugi's face, so did he.

But nonetheless, the transfers prompted for more information.

"It's quite dangerous," Hermione explained, with a small eye roll.

"Oh, come off it, Hermione. Just because y_ou _can't play-"

"It's a sport played on broomsticks," Harry interrupted Ron and Hermione's bickering.

"Like, in the air?" Malik asked, eyes lighting up.

Ryou agreed with Hermione. This did sound quite dangerous, indeed.

"How do you play?" Yugi asked, his homework long forgotten.

"Well, there's two teams," Ellie started, "Seven players on each."

"Two beaters, three chasers, one keeper, and one seeker." Ron continued. "The beaters knock these little balls called bludgers around with bats and try to knock the other team off of their broomsticks."

Ryou was liking this game less and less.

"Then you have your chasers," Harry said. "They play with the Quaffle. Their job is to get the Quaffle through the opposing team's goalposts. Each score gains their team 10 points."

"The keeper defends the goalposts for his team," Ellie said, pulling a scrap piece of parchment towards her and began to draw an oval with three sticks with circles on each end. "That's what the pitch looks like."

"And what does the seeker do?" Yugi asked.

"The seeker's job is to catch the golden snitch. It's absolutely tiny, and flies around the pitch." Ellie replied. "The game can only end when it's caught. The seeker who catches it earns his team 150 points."

"Who is Gryffindor's seeker?" Ryou asked nervously. He hoped it wasn't Ellie, because that sounded like the most dangerous position out there. The seeker had to be the biggest target.

"I am," Harry said.

"Who else is on the team?" Malik asked.

"Well, Fred and George are the beaters, naturally," Ellie said. "And Angelina, Katie Bell and I are the chasers."

Ellie was on the team? Ryou didn't like that at all, Quidditch sounded _way_ too dangerous.

"I want to try out!" Malik declared. "Will you guys teach me?"

"And me?" Yugi asked.

"Can't," Harry muttered miserably. "I've got detention all week. Speaking of which, I should get going before I'm late." With that, he gathered his things and left the common room dejectedly.

"I'll teach you!" Ron beamed, his animosity towards them apparently forgotten in the face of his favorite sport. "And I'm sure Ellie will too, won't you?"

Ellie nodded. "I think the rain's going to hold off, do you want to go out now?"

"Yeah!" Malik jumped up excitedly.

Ryou was torn. He did not want to fly or watch Ellie play this dangerous sport, but he was fascinated by the idea of it.

Hermione gave them all disappointed looks. "We have _all this_ homework to do and you're going to play _Quidditch?_"

"You coming, Ryou?" Ellie asked, ignoring Hermione and smiling down at him.

He glanced furtively down at his half-finished homework. "Yeah, I guess so." He gave a defeated smile and followed his friends out the door.

**XXX**

"The first year's usually get flying lessons, but I doubt that you'll be let in," Ron told them, handing them each a broomstick from the school's stash. They looked quite rugged and pathetic next to Ellie and Ron's brooms, but Ryou didn't complain. He doubted that they would go as fast anyway, and that was just fine with him.

"It's lucky that the pitch is empty tonight," Ellie noted, shielding her eyes from the evening sun and observing the sky. "Good conditions, too."

"So, how do I fly?" Malik asked. Out of the three transfers, he was certainly the most eager to get up into the sky.

Ellie laughed. "You have to learn how to control the broomstick, first."

"Well, how do I do that?" He asked impatiently, examining his broomstick's rough handle.

"Put them down," Ron told them.

"How is this going to teach me how to control-" Malik began.

"Just do it!" Ron laughed.

The three transfers laid their broomsticks on the grass. Ellie, Ryou noticed, was grinning hugely. She seemed to be enjoying this.

"Now hold your hand over it, and say 'up'."

Yugi did as he was told, and unsurprisingly, the broomstick flew up into his hand without hesitation.

Malik yelled 'up' a little too enthusiastically, and the broomstick flew up so fast that he couldn't catch it, and it zoomed up into the sky. "Oops." He said.

"I'll get it!" Ron said happily, and zoomed easily into the air to retrieve the broom.

Ryou nervously looked down at his broom. He wondered if it could feel his hesitation.

"Come on, Ryou," Ellie smiled encouragingly at him. He self-consciously felt the eyes of the other three on him, and regretted waiting so long to do it.

"Up?" He said. It sounded more like a question.

The broom twitch a bit, and rolled over, but did not rise an inch off the ground.

"Don't be so nervous, the broom won't work for you unless it feels that you're worthy." Ellie said. "Try again."

Easy for her to say. She'd been flying for years. He was terrified of it. But he did try. Again and again and again, but nothing happened.

"Up!" He called, frustrated.

"Don't be so frustrated, mate," Ron told him. He had long since returned Malik's broom, and Malik had pulled off the trick effortlessly on his second try.

"I can't do it!" Ryou dropped his arm, feeling decidedly embarrassed that he was the only one that couldn't command the broom.

"Yes you can!" Ellie told him. "Stop thinking so hard. Just _do _it." She stepped up next to him, took his hand and held it above the broom. Ryou felt a slightly annoyed twitch from his yami at the contact, but still blushed all the same. "Try again," She said, letting go and stepping back.

"_Up._" He said.

Amazingly, the broom rose straight into his outstretched hand with enough force to hurt.

"I did it!" He said, excitedly. Ryou looked up into the smiling faces of his friends, grinning.

"Good!" Ron said, sounding slightly relived that that was over with.

"_Now _can we fly?" Malik asked, rolling his shoulders.

-That boy is more impatient than a toddler.- Bakura said. Ryou ignored him.

"I reckon they're ready," Ron said to Ellie, who nodded. "Mount your brooms."

They did as they were told, and Ryou was surprised to see that behind the fear, he was actually eager to get up in the air. Bakura was as well.

"Lean forwards a bit, and just hover. _Do not _kick off," Ellie said, directing that last bit to Malik, who grinned sheepishly.

"Okay, _Mom,_" He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and laughing.

Ryou was alarmed that they would be flying so soon. Was there no theory to it? He thought that they would have spent the last little bit _telling_ them how to fly, not just sending them off on their way.

This time he didn't hesitate, though. He tilted his weight forwards, and gripped the handle tightly. His hands were sweaty, and he hoped that he wouldn't slide off.

With a small prayer, he lifted his feet.

And just like that, he was hovering.

Ryou's balance was a little bit shaky, but he felt that that was just nerves and he would hopefully get over those. But there was no getting around the fact that _he was flying_.

Ryou carefully turned his head, afraid that he would topple off. He wanted to see how Yugi and Malik were doing.

Yugi was easily hovering the same as he was, but to be expected, Malik was rising fast.

There was a slight look of panic on his face that told Ryou that he wasn't doing it on purpose.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, before kicking off himself and grabbing ahold of Malik's broom to pull him down.

Ryou couldn't help but laugh at the sheepish expression on Malik's face when the pair touched down.

"I _told_ you-"

"I know, I know," Malik said to Ellie, laughing. "Can I try again?"

"Well, since you're so_ eager_ to get into the air," Ellie rolled her eyes. "Let's go."

With that, Ellie mounted her broom and rose about thirty feet in the air. Ron whooped excitedly and followed her, rising even higher and doing some loops to show off.

"You coming?" He called.

Even Malik looked hesitant after he had just lost control of his broom.

"Come on, we won't let you fall," Ellie said, flying down and hovering a few feet above their heads. "Where's that Gryffindor bravery?" She teased.

That was all the encouragement Malik needed, as he was always desperate to prove that he was worthy of Gryffindor. Yugi was quick to follow, and they rose into the air quite a bit faster than Ryou would have liked.

He started ascending behind them, but quite a bit slower. Ellie rose level with him, and he kept his eyes firmly on her, terrified to look at the ground to see how high he was.

-Don't you dare fall, Ryou.-

-I'm doing my best!- Ryou snapped back.

When the pair finally rose to be level with the other three, Ryou finally allowed himself the leave to look down. He then wished that he hadn't. They had to be at least fifty feet high.

"This is amazing!" Yugi said, beaming.

Despite his fears, Ryou had to agree. Being this high up without any restrictions, he felt freer than he had ever felt in his life. From this vantage point, they could see the sunset perfectly.

Ryou felt his nerves slip slowly away, and he was eager to learn how to _really_ fly.

Ellie and Ron were allowing them a moment to adjust. Ryou's fear came back not only when he realized that they were racing each other around the pitch, but when he saw exactly how _fast_ Ellie was going. She was weaving in and out of the stands impressively, but she was still only a slight miscalculation away from crashing into one.

It was hard to tell who won their race, as the pair zoomed to the group at the exact same time, laughing. Ryou only caught his breath when she came to a halt.

"You guys wanna do a few laps?" Ellie asked them breathlessly.

"I think so," Yugi said, grinning nervously.

Ryou found that once he calmed down a little bit, the broomstick responded to him a lot better and flying was actually quite easy. Within an hour, they were all flying like they'd been doing it for years.

The transfers were racing each other around the pitch, reservations long gone. They were all having the time of their lives dive-bombing each other and seeing who could perform the most risky moves.

Ellie and Ron were focused on the goalposts. Ron had blushingly admitted that he was going to tryout for the position of keeper this Friday and Ellie had offered to help him out.

He wasn't doing too badly, Ryou thought. He only let in about a quarter of the throws that Ellie made, and he let in even less when he thought the transfers weren't looking.

By the time the sun went all the way down and they were making their way back up to the school, Ryou felt confident flying and actually believed he would enjoy playing Quidditch.

**XXX**

**Yeah, the treat was our favorite transfers learning how to fly. I think it was more of a treat to me than it was to you guys, though. xD I wrote it completely out of context this morning just for fun, then tacked it on the first half to make a somewhat eventful chapter. I hope you enjoyed it though. C: **

**I would also like to thank and give kudos to a few loyal reviews who have stuck by my side and given me feedback for pretty much every chapter I've updated in the last month! Check em out, guys: The Amber Raven, Rubellite Game, YamiBakura1988, Locondra Timbernova and mpl3 !**

**Thanks for reading and don't neglect the pretty blue box!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys! I want to thank you all, because with all of your help, I've actually managed to hit the 100th review for this story! You can't even believe how happy and accomplished that made me feel. Makes me feel like I'm not just writing this story for me anymore. So that gave me a lot of motivation to even think up a few more plot points for you, and I am so excited to post this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Honestly, people, if I **_**owned**_** Yu-Gi-Oh or Harry Potter do you think that I would be sitting here writing this? No! I would be using my billions of dollars to create a clone of Malik to have all to myself. *drools***

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 20**

As the weeks went by, Malik and the other two transfers found themselves settling into the rhythm at Hogwarts. They made more friends, and were even asked out by no less than a dozen girls. Malik took great pleasure in watching sweet Ryou and Yugi try to reject these girls without hurting their feelings. But Malik was _incredibly _annoyed by them, and made no such attempt to spare their feelings. They only wanted to date them because they were famous, and that pissed him off to no end. He left more than a few girls in tears.

They were keeping well up with their classes, and somehow Ryou had even surpassed a lot of the students in some. The exception, of course, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Obviously, none of the other students were progressing either, but since the transfers had never even seen any of this stuff before, they were lagging way behind.

"This is pointless!" Ryou groaned in a rare show of annoyance, slamming his textbook onto the table. "_We're_ the ones that need to defend ourselves, but that god-awful woman won't even let us _try_." Bakura must have been bitching at him in his head for a long time about Umbridge for Ryou to complain like that.

"Well it's not like we can't defend ourselves anyways," Malik rolled his eyes. The three of them were perched in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, and the only person that was within earshot was Hermione, so they could speak freely.

Hermione didn't seem to be listening anyways, as she was deeply immersed in a book, and was taking notes.

The book, Malik was annoyed to see, was about Ancient Egypt. It had an eye on the front that was eerily similar to the Eye of Horus.

"Why are you reading that, Hermione?" He asked exasperatedly.

She narrowed her eyes. "Because _you _won't tell me what I want to know!" She snapped. Lately, Hermione had been very touchy about the subject. Most likely because she couldn't find any information, but even Malik didn't have the balls to say so out loud. "And Ellie's at _Quidditch_ practice, so it's up to me to figure it out." The way she said Quidditch made it sound like a dirty word.

Yugi calmly set down his own homework. Unlike Malik, he and Hermione got on very well. "Hermione, we're not keeping this from you for the fun of it. We're trying to protect you." Voldemort had undoubtedly already figured out who Ryou was, and made the connection between the boy who had taken out so many death eaters and the new transfers at Hogwarts. That just added another danger to the list that the Shadow Mage's friends had to cope with.

Hermione sighed. "I'm not going to stop looking." She scowled a bit, "And neither will Ellie." She muttered something that sounded vaguely like 'whether she likes it or not'.

"Can you at least take a break and help us with this Defense?" Ryou asked hopefully.

Defeated, and unable to resist the infamous hikari puppy dog eyes, Hermione smiled. "Sure, Ryou." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, Harry isn't going to like this. But we're thinking of starting a club to learn _real_ defense. You know, practical wand work. Not any of this _theoretical _nonsense." She suddenly looked eager. "Secretly, of course. Are you interested?"

Of _course_ he was interested. This was Malik's cup of tea. He couldn't agree fast enough. And neither could Yugi and Ryou.

"Why do you reckon Harry won't like it?" Yugi asked. He was picking up on English figures of speech quickly.

"Well, he's kind of going to be teaching it," Hermione said sheepishly. "He's had a lot of experience, especially with the Triwizard Tournament last year. And he's good. _Really good._"

Perfect, Malik thought. The three transfers had mostly won over Ron, but things with Harry were still quite strained. He was even more cranky than Malik. The relationship between him and the transfers was too polite. Malik, ever the people person, had forced himself to not start a fight with him on countless occasions for the sakes of Ellie and Hermione.

He wondered if Harry would take the opportunity to hex them.

He then wondered if he could take the opportunity to hex _Harry_.

"Sounds like fun," Ryou said. Malik wondered if Hermione heard the strain in his voice.

Hermione told them to meet up in some pub called the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade that weekend after Ellie showed them around, and they all returned to their work.

Malik tried to stay focused, but he found his mind wandering. He had a hard time staying focused on anything recently. It seemed as though thoughts of Marik were constantly plaguing his mind whenever he tried to do anything else. Could it be that his other personality was getting strong enough to actually influence his decisions again? Malik hoped not. It was bad enough that he was always in a bad mood, lashing out at anyone who pissed him off in the slightest.

Malik wondered if Ellie and Hermione would trust him as much if they knew what he really was.

But he didn't want his mind to wander in _that _particular direction at the moment. He didn't like thinking about Battle City if he could help it. Because a lot of what happened there was his own fault, and he couldn't blame it on Marik.

Thoroughly pissed off from his own thoughts, Malik stood up and announced he was going to bed. It was still quite early, but he knew that Quidditch practice would end soon and he didn't want to have to deal with Harry tonight.

Ignoring curious and worried glances from the three he was leaving behind, Malik gathered his things and made a show of trudging up the stairs so erase any suspicions he knew they all had about his retiring so early. As soon as he was out of view, however, he picked up his pace and hurried into his dorm.

He had just had a sudden idea. The _scales._ Sure, he wasn't the true wielder of them, he just happened to own them. There was no substitute for his Millennium Rod, but Malik wanted something that the Rod couldn't give him.

He wanted to weigh his soul.

He didn't even know if he could weigh his own soul without factoring in the evil of his darker half. But he had to try.

He just hoped that since he wasn't the true wielder of the Scales, that if his soul didn't measure up to the Feather of Ma'at it wouldn't get eaten by Ammit.

Relieved to find that the dormitory was empty when he arrived, Malik eagerly began rummaging through his trunk to find the Scales. It was amazing he could find anything in the mess that was his space. Both his bed and the area surrounding it was littered with everything one would come to expect from a teenage wizard.

"Ugh," He said, throwing aside particularly dirty set of robes from the time he had exploded his 'potion' in potions. It was covered in a sticky green substance and smelled like rotten bananas. He came to the decision that he really needed to clean.

He then moved on to his closet. Nothing. After another fruitless search of his bed and the area surrounding it, Malik began to panic.

"What the fuck?!" He exclaimed to the empty room, ripping the sheets off of his bed in order to check under them.

But after a few more minutes of searching, there was no denying it.

The scales were gone.

"YUGI !" He bellowed, tearing down the stairs and into the common room, earning himself quite a few stares from his housemates. Quidditch practice, it seems, had just let out, as Ron, Harry and Ellie had joined the group around the fire in their flaming scarlet robes.

Malik, oblivious to the stares, bolted over to Yugi and Ryou. "What's your problem?" Ryou asked meanly, but Malik knew it was Bakura behind those words.

"I - you - need - uuh," He panted, trying to catch his breath. He had indeed made quite good time coming down the stairs. "I need to talk to you guys." He indicated Yugi and Ryou, who instantly looked worried. They ignored the curious stares of the others, stood up and followed a frantic Malik up the stairs.

They finally reached the boys dormitory, which was completely torn up from Malik's search.

"What the hell did you do, Ishtar?" Bakura asked, phasing out and surveying the mess.

Malik, seized by yet another sudden fit of anger, punched the stone wall with everything he had. Blood trickled down his fist, and he scowled. "They're gone." He turned around to face his friends. Yami had phased out as well. "The scales are gone."

"You lost the scales?" Bakura asked in his low, scary voice.

"I didn't lose them!" Malik snapped, pulling out his rod and squeezing it threateningly. Not that he could harm a corporeal being, but the thought still comforted him.

"What happened, Malik?" Yami asked.

"I don't fucking know! I was looking for them, to, you know," He blushed, "To weigh my soul. And they weren't there." He finished angrily, kicking some of his possessions around in the hopes that the scales would turn up.

"You can't weigh your own soul, idiot," Bakura scoffed.

_Oh._

"So they were stolen," Yugi said, ignoring Bakura. He bagan rummaging through his own trunk and emerged with the Millennium Necklace.

Ryou opened up his bedside drawer, and beside his box filled with Amane's things, he pulled out a little bag that he tipped upside-down to reveal the Millennium Eye.

Of course, it went without saying that the two boys kept the Puzzle and Ring safely around their necks.

"Where were the Scales, Malik?" Ryou asked.

"They _were_ in my trunk," He said, nursing his bleeding hand and now regretting his fit of rage. He was still mad, but not unreasonably so.

"So whoever took them must have only wanted the Scales." Yugi shook his head speculatively. "It's not like the Eye and the Necklace were particularly difficult to get to."

"So you definitely think that they were stolen, then." Ryou stated.

Both Yugi and Yami nodded at exactly the same time. It was actually kind of unnerving.

Bakura angrily paced the room. "I bet it was the imbecile with scar on his forehead."

"Harry?" Yugi asked.

"How many other imbeciles with a scar on their foreheads do you know, you undersized abomination?!" He asked irritably.

"Look!" Ryou interrupted angrily before Yami could jump in to defend his hikari. "We need to find the thief! You guys need to stop this petty fighting and work together!"

There was silence for a moment. Nobody expected _Ryou_, of all people, to jump in between the two yamis. In spite of his anger, Malik couldn't help but let out a low whistle. "You tell 'em, Ryou."

He blushed and made a show of putting the golden eye back into it's little velvet bag and carefully setting it back into his drawer.

Yami phased back into Yugi's body, and took control. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his deck, rifling through it until he found what he was looking for.

"I summon the Dark Magician!"

Malik hurried over to lock the door. It was still early yet, but he didn't want to explain the 10 foot tall purple magician with a pointy hat in their dorm if one of their roommates retired early.

The three Millennium Item holders could not sense magic the same way that their Duel Monsters could, and Yami evidently believed that the Dark Magician could help them in their search.

"Will you be able to tell us anything about the thief who stole the Millennium Scales, Dark Magician?" Yami asked his monster.

The Dark Magician bowed, and nodded. "Yes, my Pharaoh. I can sense many Shadows in this room, from a thief who came only this morning. There are still traces of the thief in this castle."

Malik started. Still traces of the thief in the castle? Malik would _kill_ him.

"But it must have been a Gryffindor, though!" Ryou said. "Only we have access to this tower."

"I still think that it was scarhead." Bakura said moodily. "He has unlimited access to this room, and could use the Scales in his fight against Voldemort."

Yami shook his head. "But the Dark Magician said that the thief left a trace of Shadows. It couldn't have been Harry, he hasn't got an ounce of the power required to manipulate the Shadows."

Malik pulled out his own deck, and rifled through the cards until he found his personal favorite, the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys*. He quickly summoned the gargantuan flaming beast, which gave an almighty roar the second he was released.

Even Bakura flinched at the noise. Malik sheepishly grinned at the dirty looks he was being given. "Hey, we're the only ones that can _actually_ hear him, you know."

"You had better hope so," Ryou said darkly, shaking his head. He fanned his face, as the temperature in the room had gone up considerably with the fire that the Phoenix was emitting. He then turned to his Yami expectantly. "She responds better to you, Koe."

Bakura phased into Ryou's body without a word, and quickly took over. Malik didn't see his hand slip into his pocket, but a second later Bakura was holding a card as well.

"Rise, Dark Necrofear!" He called, summoning up his favorite card.

Although he would never admit it to the Thief King, Malik had a particular aversion to his monster. It was partially because any monster that the evil spirit felt such an attachment too could not be good for anybody that opposed him, but it was mostly because Dark Necrofear was honestly the creepiest thing that he had ever seen.

Sensing his master's unease, Malik's Phoenix roared again and spread his wings threateningly.

Malik once again really hoped that none of their roommates would walk in.

"We have a job for you to do," Bakura told his monster.

"As you wish, master," Dark Necrofear bowed low.

"You too, Nephthys," Malik told his monster, who cocked her head, awaiting instructions.

"We seem to have a thief in our midst," Malik told the monsters. "Your job is to find anyone who has a trace of Shadows on them."

"Don't get caught," Bakura added, eyeing the girth of Malik's flaming phoenix.

"As you wish," Dark Necrofear and the Dark Magician both bowed, and Nephthys roared once more, before they all dissolved into the ground, seemingly on the trail of the thief.

The Yami's once again relinquished control to their hikaris, and phased out themselves.

"What if they can't find him?" Ryou asked anxiously, perching on the end of his bed. "I mean, it could be _anyone_. We need to know!"

But before anybody could answer, Dark Necrofear rose once again from the floor.

"We have found the one with the Shadows, Master," She bowed to both Ryou and Bakura.

"Now _that_ was fast." Malik nodded, impressed. He felt the release of his magic that signified that Nephthys had returned to his card.

"We did not need to go far. The one we were looking for was just down below."

So it _was_ a Gryffindor. Malik edged closer, eager to hear who the thief was.

"Show us, Dark Necrofear," Bakura commanded.

"As you wish, Master." She waved her hands, and as if a hole had opened in the floor.

They could see the Gryffindor common room on full display. They all crowded round as their view began zooming in towards the fire.

When the zooming finally stopped, they all stared.

_No._

It couldn't be.

But there was no denying it. Dark Necrofear was showing them a pretty blonde girl with glasses, laughing and talking with her friends.

It was _Ellie._

"No. There must be some mistake." Ryou said, shaking his head.

"She has the trace, master."

"It could just be a result from hanging out with us, right Bakura?" Ryou frantically asked his yami. "I mean, we're all dripping in Shadows."

"She has the same trace as the one that resides in this very room," Dark Necrofear said.

Malik stared at the illusion. As usual, Ellie looked the picture of innocence, with a smile on her face and Ryou's kitten, Shu, on her lap. She was completely unaware of what was going on a few floors above her right at that very moment. Of course Ryou wanted to protect her.

Malik felt bad for him.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that it's her, Ryou," Yugi said gently.

Ryou didn't acknowledge him at all. "That will do, Dark Necrofear." He summoned his monster back into her card, the illusion disappearing with her.

"It doesn't mean that it isn't her, either," Bakura said to Yugi harshly. "We cannot trust anyone here."

Malik had to agree. They had no reason to trust Ellie and her friends, yet they somehow did anyways. He was beginning to rethink his earlier opinion on her.

The trace on Ellie didn't necessarily mean that she was the thief, but it did tell the Shadow Mages one thing for sure. Ellie was involved in their world somehow. And that made her dangerous. _Very_ dangerous.

"We can't trust her." Malik said.

**XXX**

Ellie found herself running through a dark, cavernous room. It seemed endless, she'd been running for as long as she could remember. But she needed to reach her goal. At the end of this room there were answers, and she _needed_ to find them.

She was surrounded by a small ball of light that only stretched far enough to illuminate a few feet in front of her, but she kept running anyways.

She had to.

It was silly, she was wearing a white sleeveless sundress that offered no protection from the dank chill of the room she was in. She felt so cold and vulnerable in the dress, and longed for the secure feeling she got when she wore her Hogwarts robes.

She didn't even have her wand.

The only think that she could hear was the sounds of her own feet slapping the damp stone floor, her dress swishing around her knees, and her shallow, labored breathing.

That's why she instantly noticed a hissing coming from her right.

Ellie stopped dead in her tracks. There was something moving, something _huge._

She thought that maybe if she stayed still, then it wouldn't notice her . . .

Ellie closed her eyes and prayed that the thing wouldn't see her.

_Please, please, please . . ._

The hissing stopped, and so did the movement. In a way, it was even more terrifying, because Ellie couldn't pinpoint where the thing was anymore.

She must have just been a beacon for the thing, her white dress standing out in the dark room.

_Please, please, please . . ._

The small light surrounding Ellie suddenly expanded, revealing everything.

Hovering inches above Ellie's head was a massive set of fangs, that were attached to the mouth of a _giant snake_.

Unarmed and completely terrified, Ellie couldn't move. She was frozen on the spot. A chill that had absolutely nothing to do with her bare arms and legs swept through her body, leaving her trembling.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream, knowing that this snake was going to attack her at any second.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

The snake hissed again, it's forked tongue reaching out and sliding over Ellie's neck. She whimpered, completely defenseless.

It reared it's head back, about to attack, and Ellie braced herself and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't watch.

But the attack never came. There was a huge roar and a crash that made Ellie's ears ring, but the attack never came.

Ellie took a step backwards and dared to open her eyes.

The snake was gone.

In it's place was the strangest, yet most terrifying creature that Ellie had ever seen in her life. It was even _bigger_ that the snake was. It had the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion, and it's hind legs and behind looked as though it belonged to a hippopotamus. The mismatch of body parts could be mistaken for silly by a third party observer, but to one standing directly in front of it like Ellie, it was horrifying.

It was licking it's jaws, as if it had just enjoyed a hearty meal.

With a jolt, Ellie realized that that's exactly what it had done. It had _eaten_ the snake.

She whimpered again. She was spared from being eaten from the snake, only to be devoured by this even more terrifying creature.

And it slowly turned it's attention to her, and cocked it's head. The creature opened it's jaws and let out a roar that seemed impossible to have come from the mouth of a crocodile.

When it roared, her section of the cavern finally lit up. Torches lined the walls, and Ellie was standing in the middle of the room, with water on either side of the stone path she was standing on. It was huge, and familiar.

But Ellie still couldn't see what she had been running towards.

But she felt that she _knew_ this place, and had she only seen her destination she would remember _where she was_ in an instant.

Ellie turned back to the creature, questions in her eyes. She didn't even know if it could speak to answer them.

But it was gone. The gargantuan monster that she had just seen eat a giant snake had simply disappeared.

"Come back!" Ellie called, her voice echoing off the walls. "Please!"

But her pleas for the monster that had just saved her life instantly turned into screams as the floor dissolved from beneath her feet, and she began falling. . .

. . . Falling, falling, falling through an endless abyss of black, with millions of eyes staring at her, watching her, unblinking, seeing everything. The eyes watched as she screamed helplessly, groping in the darkness for _anything_ to slow her descent. . .

Oh no. The _dream_ again. Ellie wished this knowledge would comfort her, knowing that in a few minutes time she would wake up completely unharmed, but she still couldn't seem to shake the fear that had consumed her.

Helplessly, she again played her part well, screaming and screaming as loud as she could.

Her descent didn't last nearly as long as it usually did. After a few minutes she saw the golden eye, and Ellie was heading straight for it.

Ellie sat bolt upright with a scream, clapping a hand over her mouth as not to wake her roommates.

But her efforts to remain quiet were in vain, as her three roommates rushed over to see what was the matter. It seemed that she had actually slept later than the rest of the girls, which was something the _never _happened.

"What's wrong, El?"

Trembling, Ellie self-consciously clutched the sheets to her chest and surveyed her friends with wide eyes. "N-nothing. Just a dream."

She's been having the same dream for weeks, and she had never woken up screaming.

But then again, she had never been faced with those monsters before either.

Even Lavender, who hadn't spoken to Ellie in weeks, looked worried.

Pavarti climbed into bed next to the still shaking Ellie and wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay, Ellie! You can tell us."

Ellie leaned into Pavarti and locked eyes with Hermione, who had yet to say anything. "I just dreamt that a monster was trying to eat me." She said. Hey, it was kind of true. "Stupid, huh?" Ellie gave a nervous laugh.

"Oh, it's okay! Dreams can seem like, _so real._ I had this nightmare once. . ." Pavarti prattled. Ellie, however, wasn't listening to a word. She was too busy wondering exactly _what_ had prompted her reoccurring dream to change.

After Pavarti's spiel, Ellie quickly got up and began to try to wrestle her hair into something that resembled a neat bun, trying to ignore the worried looks that Hermione kept shooting her.

"Oh, and don't worry, El! We won't tell anybody!" Pavarti called from the door as she and Lavender left. "Will we, Lavender?" She gave her friend a meaningful nudge, and Lavender half-heartedly nodded.

Ellie could almost hear them talking about her as soon as they were out the door.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," She groaned to Hermione as soon as they were gone. "Did they _have_ to see that?"

"I suppose so." Hermione said simply. "Are you okay?"

Ellie was no longer shaking, but she was still quite rattled, and actually feeling a little nauseous. "I'm fine." She forced a smile, and the look on Hermione's face told her that she wasn't buying it one bit.

"Well, you'd better hope so. We've got that meeting today in the Hog's Head."

"That's today?!"

She groaned again.

When the notice had first gone up announcing a trip to Hogsmeade, Ellie had promised the transfers that she would show them the sights before Hermione's defense meeting. Up until the day before she had been looking forwards to it.

But yesterday the transfers had acted strangely aloof towards her. They only spoke when spoken to, and Malik had been a righteous git in Ellie's opinion.

To Ellie's knowledge, she had done nothing to spur such behavior.

The worst part was that they had still treated Hermione the same as they always had. They were even nicer to Harry and Ron. Because of this, Hermione had completely brushed her off when she had told her about it. She thought that Ellie was just being moody and getting upset over no reason.

But a promise was a promise, and Ellie was going to keep it and show the transfers around beforehand. She wished that Hermione didn't have the meeting to tend to so she could come along to alleviate some of the tension.

"Hurry up and get dressed! I want to go to breakfast," Hermione said, breaking Ellie's train of thought.

Ellie was still nauseous, and the idea of food made her feel even more sick. "No, thank you. I'm really not feeling well."

Of course Hermione protested, but in the end Ellie convinced her that she was fine and would meet up with her in the Hog's Head later on.

Ellie took the precious minutes alone to sit on her bed and gather her wits for the trying day she knew she was going to have.

Sighing, she finally stood up and pulled on one of Mrs. Weasley's famous knitted sweaters, a pair of jeans and boots. Grabbing her bottomless purse, she walked out of the dorm to go.

She walked into the Entrance Hall to meet Ryou, Yugi and Malik. The had agreed to meet at 10, and, true to their word, there they were. They were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, and Ellie thought it was weird seeing them out of their Hogwarts robes for the first time in so long.

Ellie had decided to try and act as thought nothing was amiss.

"Hey, guys. You ready to go?" She forced a smile.

Ryou and Yugi nodded silently. Malik however, smirked. "Nice sweater," He said gesturing to it. It was a typical comment from him, but it lacked the teasing nature he usually had that signified that it was all in good fun.

The smile melted from her face. Ellie was offended. There was nothing wrong with her sweater. It was brown, a little loose, and was very comfy and warm. Mrs. Weasley had made it for her for Christmas last year.

"It was a gift," She replied, slightly defensively. Malik looked as though he almost wanted to apologize and take the comment back, but Ellie turned tail and said "Let's go," before he could.

The walk to Hogsmeade was very awkward. Ellie had made a few stabs at conversation, but the boys all seemed to want to continue the walk in stony silence.

Hurt, Ellie crossed her arms over her chest and gave up. She was very glad to have worn her sweater, no matter what Malik said. It was chilly out, and had she not been so angry at the boys she would have felt bad for them in only their t-shirts. She could see that goose bumps had erupted on all of their arms.

They had actually made it all the way to Hogsmeade without any true conversation. Ryou finally broke the silence by speaking to Ellie for the first time that day.

"Ellie?" He asked timidly. He blushed when she looked over at him and avoided her gaze.

"Yeah, Ryou?" She felt a small spark of hope. Maybe he was going to apologize and explain what had come over them!

"Can you show us the Shrieking Shack?" Ellie's heart sank. It was a start, but she would have certainly preferred a decent apology.

She couldn't hide the frown on her face. "Sure."

Ryou opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but his eyes flashed and Bakura took over. He looked angry, and closed his mouth.

Oh. It was Bakura and Yami that had them acting like that.

But what about Malik?

Ellie wished that Genevieve had already returned with Bill's response. Maybe if she knew who Ryou, Malik and Yugi _really _were, then she could understand why they were acting like this.

Ellie led them all up the hill towards the Shrieking Shack. It was empty, as it was still early and most students were at Honeydukes trying to get the good candy before it was all gone.

She walked forwards, and leant against the fence, picking at a lint ball on her sweater. Maybe it w_as_ getting a little shabby. But it was still very comfy.

Ellie didn't want to look at the boys, and wasn't particularly in the mood to explain the history of the Shrieking Shack. There was a sign.

And she certainly wasn't in the mood to recount what she, Harry, Hermione and Ron had uncovered about it in their third year.

Yes, they could read the sign.

Ellie scowled at the Shrieking Shack.

She could hear the boys whispering behind her back, and that only spurred her on to get even more angry. But, Ellie being Ellie, didn't say anything. She didn't want to make things any worse.

She remained with her back to them, and continued to vent her anger by scowling at the completely innocent Shrieking Shack.

"Okay, Blondie, fess up!" Bakura shouted at her. Ellie finally turned around, and was shocked to see the both Bakura and Yami had phased out.

They were _that_ alone.

Ellie gulped.

"I'm sorry?" She asked. "Fess up to what?"

"Oh, don't play stupid," Malik snarled intimidatingly, and Ellie took a step back until her back was pressed up against the fence. "Where did you put them?"

She had never been the target of Malik's anger, and Ellie found that it was quite scary being on this end. She reached down into her boot and pulled out her wand.

"Malik, _stop,_" Ryou said, eyes on Ellie's wand. It was hanging loosely by her side, but the message was still clear. "You don't know that she took them. You're scaring her."

Took what?

"Of course she took them, Ryou. She's _covered_ in Shadow Magic. Even I can sense it now, it's stronger than before." Bakura said, walking right up to her and waving his hand over her, as if to demonstrate something. She flinched.

Ellie didn't see what the transfers saw, but they all gasped as though something significant had just happened.

"What are you talking about?" Ellie asked Bakura, who was now standing directly in front of her. She was hoping her voice sounded braver to them than it did to her. "I didn't _take _anything."

Even though Bakura was just a spirit who couldn't touch her, she was still intimidated by his presence.

"Bakura, back off," Yami said firmly. Hey, at least someone was still on her side. "Ellie, you're covered in our magic. We have to assume that you're the enemy right now." Yami said. Maybe he wasn't on her side after all.

Bakura growled at Yami's order, but he backed off nonetheless. Ellie breathed sigh of relief and took a few steps away from the fence. She was actually preparing herself to bolt if needed. Yugi, Yami and Ryou still looked pretty reasonable, but Bakura and Malik both looked like they would rip her to shreds at any given moment.

She had no doubt in her mind that they could, too.

"I don't understand." She whispered, fixing her eyes on Ryou.

Could this have something to do with her dream?

"We had a very powerful item stolen from us," Yugi explained. "The trace of magic leftover in our dorm is all over you."

"I didn't steal anything," Ellie pleaded.

"Like hell you didn't," Malik said, coming up and grabbing her wand arm roughly. "Where are they?"

Ellie tried to pull out of his grasp, but the harder she pulled, the harder he squeezed. And he was _strong. _She gasped from the pain. That was _definitely _going to bruise.

"Let go of her!" Ryou shouted at Malik, making a move towards them only to be held back by Yami, who had returned to Yugi's body.

Ellie fought tooth and nail against Malik, who was now holding her other arm as well.

She had a horrible flashback of Dudley's gang holding her back on Private Drive, right before the dementors attacked.

At that point, Ellie remembered the fear that the dementors induced, and she kind of panicked. "_Relashio_!" She cried.

Red sparks flew out of Ellie's wand, and they were aimed straight at Malik, who flew back into the fence, and landed in what looked like a very painful position. This was not the same Malik that she had come to know and become friends with. Ellie wondered if he really _did _have a darker half like Yugi and Ryou.

But it was still _Malik,_ and Ellie had just attacked him.

Ellie clapped her hand over her mouth, with her eyes wide. "I'm so sorry!" She said, rushing to his side. "Are you okay?"

Malik glared at Ellie. "You attacked me," He stated. "You actually attacked me."

"I didn't mean to! I just . . . Panicked." Ellie sighed. Malik shoved her proffered hand away and got to his feet by himself as the other transfers rushed over. "I'm sorry." She whispered. Malik looked like he was about to hit her.

Ryou grabbed Ellie a lot gentler than Malik had just done and pulled her away from him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ryou." She shook her head. "Thanks, though."

Bakura let out a loud laugh. "She kicked your ass, Tomb Keeper!"

Malik scowled angrily, and rubbed the burn on the side of his face from the sparks that had flown out of Ellie's wand. Bakura must have very strong mood swings, Ellie thought. Thirty seconds ago he was in her face threatening her, and now he was practically giving her a high five for sending Malik flying.

But Ellie didn't think it was funny. She was terrified when she had attacked him, and she was still slightly scared. She drew great comfort from Ryou, who was standing between her and the still seething Malik.

"Malik, are you okay?" Yugi asked. Ellie didn't notice when he had taken back over from Yami, or when Yami had phased out.

Malik took a moment to answer, and in that moment it was as if all the anger had drained away from his face and fear had taken it's place. "He's getting stronger." He said. "Much stronger."

Was Ellie right? Did Malik have a darker half?

"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Ellie. I really am," Malik sighed, cautiously stepping towards her. "I deserved what you did."

Ryou stiffened a bit at Malik's incoming form, but he must have decided that he was no longer a threat because he stepped aside to let Malik at Ellie, who was still a little bit wary of him.

"You have a dark side, too?" Ellie asked him.

"I do. He's . . . different from Yami and Bakura though. I can't really explain it. He's _supposed_ to be locked away, but he's been getting stronger." He suddenly grinned. "And I don't have a problem with your sweater, either. I'm sorry I insulted it."

Ellie grinned back, and ran forwards to give him a hug. "It's okay!" She laughed into a very shocked Malik's chest. He laughed good-naturedly and hugged her back tightly.

Ellie never noticed how Malik stuck his tongue out at Ryou over his head, and how Ryou scowled right back at Malik.

"I can fix that burn on your face," Ellie said, pulling back, and pointing her wand at his face. He looked confused and slightly scared. Ellie laughed. "_Episkey_," She said, and the burns instantly disappeared.

Malik touched his face, and smiled. "Wow. Thanks."

Bakura came over, and waved his transparent hand through Ellie's head, practically giving her a heart attack. "You never told us why you're covered in Shadows, Blondie."

Ryou frowned. "Don't call her that, Koe."

"I'll call her whatever I damned well please! She's lying to us."

"I'm not lying to anyone!" Ellie snapped. She was shocked at her own outburst. She had had it with Bakura, and couldn't deal with his accusations anymore. "I didn't take _anything_ from you guys. And I don't know why I'm all of a sudden covered with shadows."

She actually had a vague idea that her being covered in shadows had _something _to do with her following them into that _place_ in Diagon Alley, and the dreams that she's been having. But since she wasn't 100% sure, she technically was telling the truth.

Bakura growled at her, but could do nothing in his corporeal state.

"I am sorry that we suspected you, Ellie." Yami said, interrupting whatever insult that Bakura was surely about to throw at Ellie.

"We'll find whatever's causing you to be covered in these shadows. Don't worry," Yugi told her, smiling encouragingly.

Ellie ducked her head, and blushed. "Thanks, guys." After a minute of comfortable silence, she looked at Ryou and smiled. "Did you actually want to hear about the Shrieking Shack?"

Ryou's face lit up in a beautiful smile. "Oh, yes please."

**XXX**

*****_**Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys **_**- I took in upon myself to give Malik a 'statement' card. He doesn't really have a favorite **_**monster**_** in the series that can run around and do his bidding like the Dark Magician and Dark Necrofear can for Yami and Bakura. Face it guys, Revival Jam just doesn't give off the same message. You guys can Google the card if you like, since we all know how well links work on this site. **

**But, since (I don't think) this card was actually featured in the series, and I know that **_**I **_**hate being given the runaround, I'll give you the basic info on it. The Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys is a fire attributed monster. It has an attack of 2400, and a defense of 1600. It looks like a flaming golden phoenix. But none of that should really matter because, like I said, I'm not going to include much dueling. (If any)**

**Any guesses where Ellie's dream took place? I'm trying to make it obvious without actually making it obvious. It's obvious to me, but that's only to be expected. **

**Now that I'm finished with this behemoth of an AN, I wanted to remind you all not to forget to shout me some love! It would make me very happy to hit 200 reviews! And a happy author = happy readers!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys!**

**So, the first matter of business I want to address is a mistake that I've been making this entire story and haven't noticed. Thanks a million to The Amber Raven for pointing it out to me! I've been spelling yadunoshi 'yano doushi' this whole time. Oops. Sorry Ryou. :C Anyways, I'll start doing it right in this chapter and will eventually go back and fix it throughout the story. However that is a long and grueling task, and I am the world's biggest procrastinator, so I will not be doing it today. I apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.**

**I've had a few of you asking whether or not Ellie is a reincarnation of someone from Ancient Egypt. The answer is no, she is not. I suck at foreshadowing, because I'm mean and don't want to give anything away. All will be explained soon enough, most likely within the next 5 chapters, so please bear with me, faithful readers!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, yada yada yada, you know the drill. If anybody hears of the rights to YGO or HP going up for sale lemme know ASAP.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 21**

Ryou couldn't sleep. His mind was too plagued with what had happened today.

Ellie was in danger.

Before they had gone to bed, the three transfers and their yamis had discussed the issue without the curious ears of their roommates listening in. They had eventually come to the conclusion that the thief must have found some interest in Ellie, doing something to her that resulted in her being covered in Shadows.

Ryou didn't like the idea of her being unprotected in her dorm room.

He wondered what the thief had done to her. Yugi had asked her if she had noticed anything out of the ordinary, but she said that she hadn't. But Ryou thought that she was lying. She had avoided Yugi's eyes, and clenched her hands together. She was easier to read than a book, but Ryou didn't push it. He knew that Malik could read her mind and find out what she was thinking of, but he didn't like the idea of him doing that to her in his recently unstable state.

He reached over to his bedside table and pulled the Millennium Ring towards him. Examining it in the dim moonlight that shone through the curtains surrounding his bed, Ryou thought back to that morning. He felt so guilty for how they had treated Ellie. Bakura had influenced a lot of his actions. He had restrained Ryou from jumping in and defending Ellie when Malik insulted her, and from apologizing to her for their behavior whenever she took on that hurt expression that broke Ryou's heart.

He just couldn't shake that look on Ellie's face from his mind, and the knowledge that _he _had caused that only made him feel worse.

Asking her to show them to the Shrieking Shack had been Bakura's doing, as he had figured that that would be a secluded enough place to corner her.

Bakura had demanded where she had the scales, no doubt terrifying Ellie out of her wits. Ryou wished that he could protect her from his other self, but he could hardly protect himself from Bakura. And then Malik had lost all sense and _grabbed _her, as if she were trying to fight them, when in fact she had done nothing wrong.

That had been the last straw for Ryou, who had blindly tried to interfere. He didn't care whether or not Ellie was the thief, he just knew that Malik was hurting her and needed to be stopped.

Ryou knew that Yami holding him back was for the best, as Malik would have only gotten even more angry and could have hurt Ellie more had Ryou jumped in. But he couldn't help himself, he had only wanted to protect her.

He was actually quite impressed that Ellie had managed to throw Malik off. Of course, Malik's judgment had been clouded by his rage and he hadn't been in the proper mindset to defend himself, but nonetheless Ellie had used her magic to throw off the much _much _bigger boy. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about it, a small tinge of pride nagging in his chest.

Ryou then began to wonder if Ellie was impressed that he had pulled her away from Malik and stood in between them. Sure he and Malik were about the same height, but Ryou was still a lot smaller than him. Did she think him brave?

His thoughts then began to stray to the sight of Ellie today. Her hair had been pulled back into a messy bun, and he couldn't help but smile to himself in the dark. He thought that her hair was adorable, and wished that she wore it down more often. It constantly got in her face that way, and Ryou was always looking for an opportunity to brush it away for her.

Ryou blushed to himself, and rolled over onto his stomach. He couldn't get her off of his mind. Especially her _outfit_ today. He was pleased when she had joined them in the entrance hall. It had been awhile since he had seen her outside of the loose fitting Hogwarts robes, and he was certainly glad to be given a reminder of her shape. Not that her ensemble was anything but modest, but he still loved it nonetheless.

The image of her standing in front of them, facing the Shrieking Shack, floated into his mind. Yes, Ryou certainly liked seeing Ellie in formfitting jeans for a change. He eagerly wondered when the next Hogsmeade trip would be. Maybe they could go back to the Shrieking Shack. If he was brave enough, he could even ask her to take him in. _Alone._

-Ryou. Stop it.-

-Huh?- Ryou was preoccupied, and was annoyed when his yami pulled him out of his musings.

-Stop. It.- Bakura sounded mad, as though he were speaking through his metaphorical teeth.

Ryou was confused. He had done nothing wrong, and didn't understand why Bakura was upset. He pulled his consciousness out of his body, and materialized in the hallway between their soul rooms. His yami was standing there waiting for him, looking every bit as angry as he had sounded.

"Are you okay, Koe?" Ryou was having trouble taking his mind off of the image of Ellie's backside and focusing on the matter at hand. He shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it.

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "Stop it!" He snapped, and ran a frustrated hand through his long white hair.

"Stop what?" Ryou didn't understand what he was doing to piss his yami off so much.

"Stop thinking about _her _like _that_," Bakura answered irritably.

Ryou was confused for a moment more, and then he understood. He blushed crimson. "Oh." The knowledge that his yami could hear his thoughts quelled his imagination, and he instantly focused on the matter at hand. "Sorry."

Groaning, Bakura threw his hands up in frustration and began pacing. Ryou began feeling confused once again. He had never seen Bakura so ill-composed, and instantly felt a little bit annoyed.

"You didn't have to _listen_, you know." Ryou mumbled, still mortified.

"I _had to_ listen, you were practically throwing your thoughts at me." Bakura complained, stopping his pacing and facing Ryou.

His embarrassment quickly turned to anger. "Well then next time I'll be sure to be quiet." He snapped, surprising the both of them.

"Oh, no, yadunoshi. There will not be a next time." Bakura crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes menacingly.

"Why do you hate her so much?" Ryou demanded. He was aware that he was being immature, but he couldn't help it. His pride was already damaged enough, so there really was no turning back.

"I do not hate the girl." He shook his head. Ryou was, once again, confused. If Bakura didn't hate Ellie, then why was he so angry?

"Then why are you so against me liking her?" Ryou asked, blushing again. He knew that there were no secrets between himself and his yami, and they both knew that he liked Ellie quite a bit more than a friend. But neither of them had ever actually directly confronted the issue.

"Seriously, yadunoshi?" He scoffed. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

Ryou felt very stupid indeed, but he nodded nonetheless.

"We share the same body, Ryou."

Ryou still didn't get it. Bakura wasn't telling him anything that he didn't already know. His confusion must have been etched on his face, because his yami groaned again.

"I've told you this before. I want what you want." He elaborated.

Ryou's frown was getting deeper. He was beginning to see where his yami was coming from. But he didn't see the problem if Bakura liked Ellie as well. Sure, it was a little weird, and he found himself actually feeling jealous, but it's not like anything could become of it.

"You're still not getting this, yadunoshi." Bakura shook his head exasperatedly. He was beginning to look uncomfortable, which was yet another emotion that Ryou had never seen in his Yami. "I am a 3000 year old spirit. Your little girlfriend is a 15 year old girl."

Ryou shook his head. "I don't see the big deal, Koe."

"These thoughts you're having? These images going through your head? You're making _me _have them," Bakura snarled. And then his patience suddenly broke. "I don't want to _want _a little girl!" He snapped, whirling around and punching the stone wall of the corridor they were standing in.

_Oh._

Once again mortified, Ryou remembered his thoughts from a few minutes ago. He hadn't intended for them to seep over into his yami's mind, but he was right. They did share the same body, and it seemed that Ryou wasn't respecting their boundaries.

And the more he thought about it, the more he didn't want Bakura anywhere near Ellie if that was the case. He suddenly remembered what his yami had told him the night he had first met Ellie: '_Don't get too attached to the girl, yadunoshi, I want what you want, remember? And I _always_ get what I want.' _Ryou didn't know if Bakura just said this at the time to scare Ryou, or if he was serious. But it seemed that he had experienced a change of heart, considering he was so angry about Ryou causing him to feel _like that _about Ellie now.

"You're too naïve for your own good, yadunoshi," Bakura rolled his eyes. Ryou could tell that he was still very angry and dangerous, but that didn't stop _Ryou _from getting angry too.

"I am not _naïve,_ Koe." Ryou snapped. He was so _sick_ of people mistaking his kindness for naivety. "I had only assumed that you were strong enough to resist these kinds of desires." Ryou blushed through his anger at his own words. Sure, he was innocent, but certainly not naïve. "Clearly, you are weaker than I thought."

Ryou didn't even have time to regret his words. The next thing he knew was the murderous look on Bakura's face as he lashed out with his Shadows, and Ryou got hit.

_Hard._

**XXX**

Bakura didn't even regret attacking Ryou. All he felt was rage at his _stupid _hikari for calling him weak.

Bakura was not weak. He was anything but.

He stared down at the crumpled form of his hikari. Unconscious, no doubt. Bakura had hit him hard with the shadows. He had wanted to demonstrate exactly how strong he really was to his _naïve _hikari.

He felt like a murderer as he picked Ryou up and dragged his body into his soul room. Unceremoniously, he dumped him onto the floor and stalked out. He was eager to get into his own soul room so he wouldn't have to deal with Ryou if he woke up.

Walking across the hall, Bakura's mind was plagued with the reason for their fight in the first place. That _stupid _little girl. Bakura had had no interest in her until his host had developed his little crush, and now she seemed to be constantly on his mind. He considered just _taking _the girl to serve his hikari right. It would certainly appease the body's ridiculous desires.

He suddenly didn't care that she was 3000 years his junior. He couldn't believe that five minutes ago he _had _cared so much. He just wanted the stupid girl off of his mind, and he wanted to _hurt_ his host. There was really only one way to kill two birds with one stone, and Bakura decided that he was just going to go and _take _her. It really wouldn't be hard. She was smaller than the Shrimp.

He cackled. S_he_ was the weak one.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on shifting his consciousness to the body.

But he couldn't. It was as if the body wasn't there at all.

Enraged and confused, Bakura phased out to see for himself what the problem was. Only, there didn't seem to be one. As his corporeal form regarded the dorm room and his sleeping roommates, the body slept on.

Bakura tried once again to take control of it, but to no avail.

He was confused, because he usually had no trouble waking the body up from the deepest of slumbers to carry out his nighttime errands, but this was different.

Thoroughly pissed off, Bakura gave up and phased back into his mind. He ended up where he had phased out from, in front of his soul room's door.

He opened it and stepped through.

The room was darker than it had been in months, and strangely foreboding. Bakura almost took a step back, as he was no longer used to living in the shadows.

The air was heavy, and it pressed in around him as he cautiously entered. He felt as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.

**XXX**

Yugi woke up to the bright sunlight hitting his face. He groaned, and covered his face with his blankets in the hopes of achieving a few more moments of precious sleep.

-Get up, Yugi. You have class.- Came the amused voice of Yami.

-Shh. I'm sleeping.- He groggily replied, determinedly squinting his eyes shut.

But after a few more minutes of arguing with Yami, Yugi eventually got up and dressed.

It only took him about 5 minutes to realize that it was Sunday, and nobody else was up yet.

Yami laughed once more in his head. -Took you long enough, aibou.-

Yugi scowled, and promptly flopped back in bed, fully dressed. He fell back asleep almost instantly, and didn't wake up until Yami mentally prodded him awake.

-Wake up, Yugi.-

-I'm not falling for that again!- He complained.

-No. It is Ryou.-

-Ryou?-

Yugi got up as quickly as his groggy body would allow, and stumbled over to his friend's bed. It seemed as though everyone else in the dorm had cleared out, and it was just Yugi, Yami, Bakura, and Malik.

"What's wrong?" He asked, rushing over to Ryou, who appeared, for all the world, to be sleeping.

"He will not wake up." Yami replied, glaring daggers at Bakura. "What did you do?"

Bakura did not take his eyes off of Ryou. "Nothing," He paused for a moment. "He just couldn't sleep. He was up all night thinking about Blondie."

Malik laughed and punched the air. "Go, Ryou!"

Yami didn't buy this explanation, however. His doubts flowed over to Yugi, and their eyes met. They both knew Bakura well enough to know that once he lied, he would not willingly give up any information. So they would have to wait for Ryou to wake up to see what had really happened.

If he woke up.

Yugi frowned. "Maybe we should go get Ellie to show us to the hospital wing. Just in case something's really wrong." He didn't want to take any chances.

Yami nodded, and Malik jumped up to go find her.

"No!" Bakura cried. When Yugi looked over at him, he was astounded to see something that resembled _fear_ in the evil spirit's eyes. "No. She needn't come up here. My hikari will be fine. He just needs sleep."

"Okaaay," Malik said, cocking an eyebrow. "You up to go get some breakfast then, Yug?"

Yugi nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on Bakura, who refused to meet his.

-Why is he so afraid to see Ellie, Yami?-

-I do not know, aibou.-

**XXX**

"Mail's here!" Yugi chirped excitedly as the owls swooped into the Great Hall that morning at breakfast. He watched them eagerly, hoping to spot a swatch of brown that signified Akil had arrived with his friend's long awaited reply.

Ellie smiled. She was certainly glad to have the old Yugi back. He was only acting aloof for a day and a half, but she found that she had missed his spirit a lot.

Akil did land in front of Yugi, looking very tired but very much pleased with herself. She was carrying a fat envelope that was undoubtedly packed with Yugi's friend's letters.

"Wow, Yug, your friends must really like you." Ron mused, pulling the envelope off of the owl's leg and testing it's weight. "This thing weighs a ton."

Everyone laughed, and Yugi eagerly snatched the envelope away from Ron and tore into it, rifling through the different letters until he came to one that Ellie suspected was from the famous Anzu.

"There's a letter for you, Malik. From Isis and Rishid," Yugi tossed Malik a hefty letter of his own. Both of their faces settled into peaceful smiles as they read the letters from their loved ones back home.

"It's Genevieve!" Ellie cried excitedly, pointing to her own owl swooping down towards her. Hermione's face broke into an excited smile as Ellie caught the letter and tucked it into her bag. They certainly weren't going to read Bill's response in front of Yugi and Malik.

Speaking of which, where was Ryou? Ellie frowned. He was usually an early riser. She had only sat down moments before the mail had arrived, so she never had the chance to notice his absence.

"Where's Ryou?" Ellie asked Malik, who had appeared to be finished reading his letter.

He smirked knowingly. "He's still in bed."

Ellie wondered why he had smirked like that, but she didn't question it any further as at that very moment Ron had leant forwards to reach the bacon, and had bumped her bruised arm quite hard.

Ellie sucked in air through her teeth, and apparently caught the attention of those around her. She avoided Malik's gaze.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Harry asked her from his seat next to her.

"Yeah, I noticed that you were favoring it this morning," Hermione added from her perch in between Yugi and Malik across the table. Hermione was too observant for her own good, Ellie thought.

"Nothing." Ellie said, slowly letting out the air she had just inhaled. "I just bumped it the other day."

Ellie kept her gaze on her plate, and jokingly brushed away Ron's apology by saying that she bruised easily. She didn't want to see Malik's face. She in fact had gained quite a few bruises on both arms from Malik the day before in Hogsmeade. She hadn't wanted him to find out, because she knew that he would feel bad.

She also hadn't told Hermione a thing about yesterday's confrontation, because she knew that her friend would immediately draw the connection from her being covered in the transfer's strange magic to her waking up screaming the day before. She had painstakingly covered her bruises in their dormitory while changing last night and this morning. No, Ellie wanted to keep the dreams a secret until she knew _exactly _what they meant.

But a few minutes later, when Ellie finally believed it safe to look up, Malik was still staring at her intently. Guilt was clearly written all over his face, and he mouthed the words 'I'm sorry.'

Ellie smiled at him, and leaned forward to refill his pumpkin juice in her way of accepting his apology. She didn't blame him. It wasn't his fault that he had lashed out.

But she still knew that she had to be wary of him. He could still be very dangerous if what he said about his darker half becoming stronger was true.

Twenty minutes later the group split to do different things. Harry and Ron headed up to the library to work on all the homework they were behind on, Malik and Yugi went to Gryffindor Tower to check on Ryou and play a round of duel monsters, and Hermione and Ellie rushed to their favorite tree outside to read Bill's letter.

"This is it," Ellie squealed excitedly, drawing her cloak tighter against the cold autumn wind and opening Bill's letter. She began to read aloud:

_Dear Ellie,_

_What class if this for? I don't seem to remember going into this sort of depth when I was in Hogwarts._

_No matter, I've looked into the Eye and I found a little bit of information on it, but it does seem to remain a mystery. You were right, it is Egyptian. The Eye itself is called the Eye of Horus. While it resembles many other eyes that are associated with Ancient Egypt, this one is indeed quite different._

_What I found out is that 3000 years ago, an unknown Pharaoh ordered that seven items be forged. They were made out of gold, and all have the Eye of Horus stamped onto them. We don't know much about the items, only that they are very powerful. They are of unknown origin, shape, and size._

_However, there are unconfirmed reports of these items that have been popping up in muggle Japan over the past couple of years. A rich man by the name of Pegasus Crawford claims that he owned a golden eye that allowed him to see into people's minds, but it was stolen from him by a white haired thief. The muggles deemed this man to be mad, and promptly forgot about him, but we kept the report because the golden eye reportedly had an Egyptian looking eye stamped into the side.'_

Hermione gasped. "Bakura!" She said. But Ellie ignored her and kept reading. She didn't have the patience to stop now.

'_The other one was from a gang in Domino. They were wanted for many counts of thievery and assault. Every single member that was caught by muggle authorities said that they were being controlled by a man with a golden rod. The rod was also reported to have an Egyptian eye stamped into it. Once again, the muggle authorities assumed that this gang was a cult, and deemed every member insane.'_

Ellie had to stop this time. "Malik. He's got that rod." But it couldn't have been Malik behind that gang, could've it? She bit her lip, remembering what he told her yesterday. He had a dark side too. Ellie nodded to herself, and returned to the letter.

'_I hope that this really is information for a class, Ellie. These items are very powerful, and seem very dangerous. I would not hesitate for a second to tell the Order if I believed that you were somehow involved in this. Do be careful._

_Mum gives her love to everyone, and says that she hopes you're all focused on your studies! I think she wants you to pass that on to Fred and George, who I hear are not doing too well in their NEWT year._

_Wishing you the best,_

_Bill'_

"Wow." Hermione said, pulling the letter out of Ellie's hand and reading it for herself. This indeed was a lot of information, and it gave them an incredible lead in their research. But it painstakingly did not reveal where Ellie had seen the eye before. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, and tried to cover it up with a joke.

"I don't suppose this means that we can stop all that research?" She asked sheepishly.

"Of course not! Do you know what this means, El?" Hermione breathed excitedly. "This is a lead! We have something to _go_ on." She carefully folded the letter and jumped up. "I'm going to write my parents and ask them if they can get copies of old Japanese newspapers so we can follow those stories!"

"You don't speak Japanese, Hermione." Ellie said bluntly.

"No matter, I'm sure I read something about a translation spell in The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6." Hermione frantically knelt down again and began rummaging through her bag. "Ooh, where did I put it?"

"What are you doing with the Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6?" Ellie asked suspiciously, a trace of amusement on her features.

"I'm reading it, of course. I need _something _to do in my spare time when you are off playing Quidditch."

Ellie couldn't help but laugh. "Let's just sit on this information for a bit, shall we? I think that we'll be better off trying to find somewhere to hold Harry's Defense meetings."

The mention of the defense meetings was always a surefire way to change the subject with Hermione. She immediately stopped digging through her bag and launched into her ideas.

"Oh, I was thinking we could use this empty classroom on the fourth floor . . ."

Ellie smiled.

**XXX**

**I'm sure you all have already figured out the deal with Bakura, but I wanted to explain it further here just so there are no misunderstandings. We all know that Zorc's controlling his actions. The boggart a few chapters back showing him Ryou's death was the starting point for Bakura to begin to push Zorc away, signified by his soul room getting lighter. But circumstances as of late (Marik getting stronger, the Scales disappearing, etc.) have been causing Bakura to be a tad touchy, therefore making him more susceptible to Zorc, which is why he lashed out at Ryou, and wanted to rape Ellie. It sounds terrible, but I need to give him motivation to push Zorc away later on in the story, so I was really trying to make Bakura as harsh as he could be while Zorc was so prominently influencing him. **

"_**The room was darker than it had been in months, and strangely foreboding. Bakura almost took a step back, as he was no longer used to living in the shadows. The air was heavy, and it pressed in around him as he cautiously entered. He felt as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit." - **_**A quote from the Amber Raven, who I would, once again, love to thank for her patience and advice from pretty much day 1 of this story. Check her out, guys!**

**Oh, and one more thing! Nobody has correctly guessed the mystery location of Ellie's dream yet! Once again, I suck at foreshadowing though, so that's probably to be expected. Here's a hint: The room has nothing to do with YGO. (Well, it will when I'm done with it) It's something that Ellie's seen before her 5****th**** year (assuming she tagged along with the trio on all of their adventures). Oh, and yes it is in the books. **

**Pretty review box is down there. C: Hit me up, I love hearing your opinions and criticism!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey guys!**

**I don't know if it's because I've been working on a one-shot as well, and my creative juices can only stretch so far, but this chapter was a **_**bitch**_** to write. It just did not want to happen. I knew what I **_**wanted**_** to happen, but I couldn't figure out what to **_**say.**_** Or how to say it. It was a mess, let's just say that.**

**But none the less, I have to say that after several days of cursing and swearing at this chapter, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's pretty well all character development, but who doesn't love that? **

**But if you DO happen to notice a sentence that's worded funny, or a typo or something, it's probably because I got too annoyed with it and stopped noticing my mistakes. (Not that I don't that a lot anyways . . .)**

**Anyways, now that I'm done complaining, I'll leave you all to your reading.**

**Warning: It's a long one. C:**

**Disclaimer: IownnothingIownnothingIownno thingIwantEVERYTHING.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 22**

She was having the dream. _Again._

Ellie was beginning to feel silly. She felt silly for _still_ being terrified of the _same_ dream over and over again. This one didn't even have the strange and giant monsters in it. Her body hurtled straight down, with her robes flapping loudly behind her. She was falling so fast that her every instinct screamed that she was going to die, and soon.

But it was just a dream. And she _knew _that.

She _knew _that she would wake up, and be completely unharmed in a few moment's time. This dream didn't even cause her pain, like Harry's sometimes did. No, she knew this dream and how it would play out. Even when she was conscious, the dream did not scare her when she would think of it. Instead it was just a weird phenomenon to ponder. It wasn't even a particularly scary dream. She's certainly had worse.

But it _terrified _her.

Obviously it meant something, because before this dream, Ellie frequently had nightmares about that terrifying life sized chess match in first year. The chess match where she and Ron had to sacrifice themselves in order for Harry and Hermione to proceed to save the Philosopher's Stone. Ellie could even still picture the bishop swinging it's staff at her face full force when she closed her eyes, and hear Hermione screaming in the background as her world went black. She was knocked out cold.

Another reoccurring nightmare was the thousands of acromantulas chasing her, Ron and Harry through the Forbidden Forest in second year.

Yet another was the sight of Professor Lupin transforming into a werewolf, baring his fangs, ready to pounce and rip them to shreds. That one would haunt her all the time.

But most of all, the dream depicting Harry appearing outside the maze last June, covered in blood and clutching the Triwizard Cup and Cedric Diggory's dead body, screaming that Voldemort had returned terrified her to no end.

They had all ended when she began dreaming of that _place. _And even still, those nightmares couldn't shake her up the way that this dream did.

No, this was different. Much different.

She continued hurtling towards what she now knew was called the Eye of Horus, screaming and pleading to the thousands of eyes watching her to be allowed to wake up and end the nightmare.

But this time, she didn't wake as soon as she was about to hit the eye. No, Ellie fell right _through _it. The eye dissolved around her as though it were made of nothing but air, and Ellie landed facedown on a familiar carpet.

Luckily, this was a dream, so the incredible impact did not cause her any pain. It did, however, knock the wind out of her. She lay there panting for a few minutes, with her fear miraculously gone. She eventually rolled over so that her eyes could roam the surroundings that had given her so much peace.

The shock of light and color _should _have temporarily blinded her, considering she had just fallen through nearly complete darkness for Merlin knows how long. But it didn't.

Ellie was laying on the floor of her bedroom.

Everything was exactly the same. The walls were the same shade of cheerful yellow that Ellie had to beg her mother to let her get a long time ago, when she was only seven years old. Her twin bed was tucked into a little nook in the wall, with the quilt that her Nana had made for her before she died covering it. It was spread perfectly, even flat enough to bounce a quarter off of. Her bookshelf was still packed to burst, filled with photo albums, novels, and textbooks of both the magical and muggle variety. The dresser still displayed pictures of Ellie and Ollie in every stage of childhood, some with and some without their parents in them. Other pictures held Ellie and her friends at Hogwarts. None of them were moving of course, as her mother didn't approve of such things in case somebody outside of family saw. Sitting next to the window was the white vanity that had been her mother's when she was Ellie's age. It was a little bit scratched, but it was still a very much loved hand-me-down. It was covered in the countless bottles of sweet smelling lotions and hair products that her mother and father never stopped buying for her. Ellie stood up and walked over to it, running her hand over the familiar surface. She smiled, breathing in the familiar scent of _home. _Her room always smelt of her favorite vanilla perfume that was a gift from Ollie, and this illusion was no different.

She peered into her reflection in the mirror, and saw herself not dressed in Hogwarts robes anymore, but one of the beautiful designer sundresses that her mother bought her. She always insisted Ellie wear only the best for the famous Private Drive garden parties, hoping her daughter would impress a rich doctor's son. She was wearing her contacts instead of glasses, and her curls were arranged in a pretty, neat bun. It was a feat that really could only be managed by the determination of Ellie's mother.

The window revealed it to be a beautiful summer day, and had Ellie not known better, she would have sworn that she was about to be dragged off to one of these garden parties with her family.

But Ellie was not transfixed enough by the exact replica of her room to forget that she had just fallen straight through her horrifying dream into the place that gave her so much comfort.

Examining the room further, Ellie noticed that it wasn't quite an exact replica of her bedroom at home. The dresser held more pictures than she remembered, with the additional frames containing photographs of her new friends.

Ryou, Malik, and Yugi's images beamed at her from their frames on her dresser. Even Bakura and Yami were present in some, their bodies being depicted as solid as opposed to their usual transparence. Ellie noticed that in all of these pictures, their golden items were displayed proudly, not hidden under clothing like they usually were. That was weird, because the boys rarely took these items out in public, though Ellie and Hermione knew them to always be there.

She couldn't help but smile at one photo in particular, though. The five young men posed happily in front of the Gryffindor fire, arms around each other and laughing as though they had just heard the funniest thing in their lives. It was rare to see all of them smiling like _this _at the same time, with no hint of worry, or an angry possessor shining through in any of their eyes. Even Bakura looked happy. He, Ryou and Malik towered over little Yugi and Yami, but somehow their happiness made them all seem as though they were equals.

Ellie smiled fondly at this picture and set it down.

The earlier terror of the dream had faded the second that Ellie had hit the safety of her bedroom, but it suddenly came back with a vengeance as soon as that picture touched the wood of the dresser. It was as though her attention drifting away from her new friends allowed the bedroom door to open, letting in a strange man.

Ellie whipped around. The door was wide open. Behind the man was not the corridor outside Ellie's bedroom. No, outside Ellie's bedroom was the same darkness that she had just fallen through, with some eyes staring blankly at her.

But right now Ellie didn't care about what was outside her door. She cared about the tall man imposing on her bedroom. She took a step back, knocking into her dresser, causing some photos to fall.

The man was tall. _Very _tall. He was almost as tanned as Malik, and had a white turban wrapped around his head. White robes draped down his thin frame, gold hoops dangled from his ears, and piercing blue eyes bore into Ellie in a way that made her feel violated, even though he hadn't yet made a move towards her.

Around his neck was a large, golden key.

Even though it was not stamped with the telltale Eye of Horus, Ellie instantly knew that this key was one of the seven items that Bill had told her about.

The man stepped forwards. Ellie tried to take another step back, but her dresser was hindering her progress. He came closer, wrapping his hand around the key and lifting it up, as though he were trying to unlock something.

Ellie suddenly found herself unable to move.

He came closer still. The key, Ellie realized, was aimed for her forehead.

She didn't know who this man was, or what he was trying to do, but Ellie knew that she needed out. _Now. _She remembered for the first time since she fell that she was actually in a dream, and focused all of her efforts on waking up.

The man's forehead suddenly began glowing with the symbol of the golden Eye of Horus, and his face changed from an expression of serenity to anger as he lunged forwards to grab her. He wanted to stop her from leaving. He wanted to keep her here.

But he failed.

Which is why, for the second time in three days, Ellie was jerked awake screaming. The man's free hand was millimeters from grabbing her arm, and the key wasn't much further from her forehead when she had finally managed to rip herself out.

There was no quelling this scream, though. She couldn't stop herself. She thrashed around in bed, effectively tangling herself up in the sheets and rendering herself nearly unable to move, but the restriction only scared her more.

The image of the man reaching forward to grab her, eyes piercing her very _soul_ burned in her mind, and she continued to scream. She could feel him still. He was still there. Still in her mind.

"Ellie!" A voice broke through her panic, and she felt a pair of arms attempting to hold her thrashing body down. "You're okay!"

"No! He's _here!" _She screamed. Ellie couldn't see her surroundings, though she knew her eyes were open. All she could see was the man continuing to reach for her. "He's coming for me!"

He was in her _mind._

She heard female voices talking frantically, and felt two more pairs of hands grabbing her.

"No one's here, El! It's just us!"

Between the sheets tangled around her, and the three sets of arms holding her down, Ellie was effectively pinned. But the bonds did not panic her more as they had done earlier. No, her three roommates had succeeded in calming her down.

She was calmed enough to think rationally, and it was most likely her rational thinking that caused the man to slip away. Out of her mind. The image of him reaching for her faded from her vision, and instead the blurry faces of her roommates swam into view. Every one was pale and staring at her with worry.

"I'm going to be sick."

Her three roommates instantly let go and backed off, allowing Ellie to sit up and do just that.

"Ew!" Lavender squealed. Ellie ignored her.

Had she pushed him out of her mind?

Ellie thought that a better question to ask would be whether he was really there in the first place, or just a part of her strange dreams?

"_Scourgify,"_ Ellie heard Hermione's voice, and instantly the smell of her sick was gone. A glass of water was shoved into her hand, and Ellie felt a deliciously cool cloth wiping her sweaty face. "Are you alright?"

"No." There was, evidently, no convincing her roommates that her dreams were no big deal now. Even without her glasses, Ellie could tell by looking at the window that it was barely dawn. With a shaky hand, she raised the glass to her lips and chugged the water. Hermione pushed Ellie's glasses onto her face, and everything came into focus. "Thanks, Hermione."

Hermione, who was by now sitting on Ellie's bed, leaned in and pressed a hand to Ellie's cheek. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Ellie glanced over at Pavarti and Lavender, who were by now discussing what just happened with each other. She knew that this was code for 'let's talk in private', and sighed. "Okay."

Ellie stood up on shaky legs and allowed Hermione to guide her to the bathroom that was adjacent to the dormitory. She was feeling better, and could have easily walked on her own, but Ellie appreciated the contact. She grew great comfort from her friend's proximity.

Once in the bathroom, Hermione took some convincing to allow Ellie to shower. She was evidently under the impression that Ellie would break down into hysterics the second that she was left alone, so they compromised by having Hermione wait outside the curtain while Ellie undressed and showered.

"So?" Hermione's voice wafted through the curtain.

Buying for time, Ellie played dumb. "So what?" She asked, turning the tap and reveling in the feel of hot water washing the final remnants of the man away. She instantly felt ten times better.

"You know what."

Ellie was grateful for the shower curtain separating them. She was glad she wouldn't have to have this conversation with Hermione face to face. Sighing, she caved. "Ever since Diagon Alley, I've been having these dreams . . ."

To Hermione's immense credit, she stayed silent throughout the entire explanation. Ellie knew how much she must have wanted to pester her with questions, but understood that Ellie needed to talk uninterrupted.

Ellie told her everything about her dreams. She finished her shower as she got to the part about the two monsters the last time she had woken up screaming. Ellie wrapped a towel around herself and opened the curtain, eliciting a gasp from Hermione.

"Your arms!" She interrupted. That was the first thing that she had said the whole time.

Oops. Ellie hadn't yet gotten to the part where she was covered in shadow magic and Malik had attacked her. Ellie picked her glasses up off of the counter and put them on, rubbing the fog off of the mirror. She looked at her reflection. The bruises on her arms were by now a sick looking yellow and green, but there was no mistaking that they were left by a rough set of hands.

"Oh. Right. About that. . ." Ellie then grudgingly told Hermione about the events on Saturday, making it _very _clear that Malik wasn't himself and that she did not blame him one bit.

Hermione's face went from a look of worry to a look of _extreme_ worry, and she even remained silent for the duration of Ellie's explanation. By the time that she was done, Hermione was up to speed on everything that had happened.

"You've got to tell them." She said.

"No way!" Ellie shook her head fervently. "Malik isn't _well,_ Hermione. If he finds out that we followed them into Knockturn Alley, who knows what he would do!"

Hermione snorted. "Oh, please. As if Ryou would let him touch you this time."

What was _that _supposed to mean?

"Huh?" Ellie asked.

Hermione shook her head. "You're right, Ellie. Malik isn't well. But you have to tell them. They might be able to help you."

Ellie blanched at the thought of this. She was right, they might be able to help. And deep down, Ellie knew that the amount of remorse that Malik's been feeling wouldn't let him hurt her again. But she was still afraid of admitting that they had followed them into Knockturn Alley.

"Just give it some time," Ellie pleaded. "Please. If it gets worse, we tell them."

Hermione grudgingly agreed. "Fine. But promise that you will tell me if you have another dream?"

Ellie nodded. "Promise."

There was a silence in which Ellie brushed her teeth.

"This man that was in your dreams, do you think that he's real?" Hermione asked when she was done.

Ellie shuddered, involuntarily seeing the man again. "He's real. And I think that he's the reason why I've been covered in shadows."

Before their conversation could go any further, there was a loud pounding on the door. "The rest of us have class today, too, you know!" Pavarti's annoyed voice drifted through.

Dumbfounded, Ellie realized that they had been holed up in the bathroom talking for a very long time, and Ellie was still wrapped in her damp towel. She shivered. The warm steam in the room had long since evaporated, and she realized how cold she was.

"Coming," Hermione called back. "Are you okay to go out there?"

Ellie shrugged. "I guess so."

Hermione opened the door and led Ellie out. She tried to cover her arms, but Lavender's perceptive eye caught the bruises in two seconds flat.

"What happened to your arms?" Ellie felt rather than saw Pavarti backtrack out of the bathroom, eager for more gossip.

"I fell." Ellie said firmly. Lavender's eyebrows shot up suspiciously, but something in the tone of Ellie's voice stopped her from challenging her. She was so not in the mood to deal with them. Ellie grabbed a clean uniform, and drew the curtains around her bed to get dressed.

A minute later she emerged, and grabbed her brush off of her bedside table. She began roughly yanking it through the wet, tangled mess that was her hair. She welcomed the pain that was helping to distract her. Ellie didn't particularly care about how much she was breaking her hair.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP!" Lavender demanded, rushing over and pulling the brush out of her hands. "You're going to _wreck_ your hair! Let me do it."

Ellie was shocked right out her frustration. Since when did Lavender care about her hair? But she nonetheless took a seat and allowed her roommate to gently brush her hair. The tension between them had been high as of late, but this morning it seemed as though Ellie's nightmare had changed everything. Within a few minutes Lavender was prattling away as though nothing had ever happened between her, Ellie, and Hermione.

After a short while, Hermione was dressed and Lavender was finished. Ellie was shocked to see that she had achieved the neat bun from her dream that Ellie had thought that only her mother could manage.

A surprised giggle bubbled it's way to Ellie's lips. It felt good to laugh. "Wow." She said. "You tamed the beast."

Whether or not Lavender was still harboring some angry feelings towards Ellie was up in the air, because the next thing she did was submerge her in a cloud of hairspray. She explained that the muggle stuff worked _loads_ better than magical over Ellie's coughing and gagging.

"You can thank me later!" Lavender called as Ellie allowed Hermione to anxiously pull her out the door. Lavender was eyeing Hermione's own bushy locks as though she wanted to tackle them next, but obviously Hermione wasn't as forgiving as Ellie.

"Does this mean we're friends again?" Ellie asked.

"I hope so. That way maybe they will keep quiet." Hermione shrugged, and eyed Ellie's hair. "It does look a lot better."

"Are you saying that it looks bad every other day?" Ellie joked, and the pair continued teasing each other the whole way down to the common room. Her mood was lightening incredibly with every step, something that Ellie would never have thought possible twenty minutes ago.

It was still very early, so much so that when they entered the common room it was empty except for Yugi and Malik. They were huddled over a table, leaning close and whispering fervently. They both whipped around when the girls entered, as though pulled by some invisible string.

"Morning," Ellie and Hermione chirped cheerily.

They didn't respond. They just stared at her, with wide eyes.

Ellie frowned. "It's the hair, isn't it?"

Malik shook his head dumbly, and Yami took over from Yugi. "What happened to you?" He asked worriedly, rushing over and tilting Ellie's face so he could examine it in the sunlight streaming in the window.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Ellie was surprised by his intensity.

"Could this have something to do with Ryou?" Malik asked, apparently breaking out of his trance and rushing over to examine Ellie for himself.

"Ryou?" Ellie gasped, pushing Yami's hand away. "What's wrong with him?"

The sounds of people moving about in the dorms above the four were growing more prominent, and Malik shifted uncomfortably. "We need to talk. In private."

"Where's Ryou?" Ellie demanded uselessly. Yami had relinquished control to Yugi, who had grabbed Ellie's hand and was pulling her towards the portrait hole. For a little guy, he was _strong._

As Yugi tugged Ellie along, and Malik urged Hermione to hurry up, Yugi explained in a low voice that Ryou hadn't woken up yesterday _or _this morning, and that Bakura must have done something to him.

Ellie didn't have much more time to think or worry as she was led into an abandoned classroom and shoved down into a chair by Malik. Yugi locked the door, and allowed Yami to phase out.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked impatiently. "Classes start in an hour."

A small smile flitted across Malik's lips at this, but he immediately whirled back towards Ellie. "Your aura. It's been eclipsed."

"What?" Ellie instantly forgot about Ryou.

"You were covered in shadow magic before," Yugi translated. "We could sense it, but it was _on _you, as if somebody with strong magic had been hanging around you for too long." He then hesitated, looking to Yami for help.

"Now, it is as though your aura is completely gone. You are coated in shadows. It is as if they are _inside_ you." He shook his head.

That didn't sound good, and Ellie gulped. Yugi walked around behind her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I didn't sense anything happening. . ."

"Something happened." Hermione interrupted.

Ellie groaned internally. So much for _secrets._

"Something's _been_ happening." She continued, glaring at Ellie in a way that just dared her to object to what she was saying. It worked. Ellie was effectively too terrified of Hermione to say a word in protest. "Ellie's been having nightmares for weeks, and lately she's been waking up screaming."

"Hermione, it's no big deal-"

"You woke up yelling 'He's here, he's coming for me', Ellie." Hermione shook her head at Ellie. She then turned to Yami. "A man walked into her dream, and attacked her. She said she still felt him in her head when she woke up. I think that this has something to do with the shadows."

Ellie dropped her gaze to the floor, embarrassed. She didn't want to seem as though she couldn't handle some _dreams_. Especially in front of Yugi, Yami, and Malik, who had all been through a lot worse than her.

Yugi's hand slipped off of her shoulder, and he walked back around to stand in front of her.

"What did he look like?"

Ellie looked up at Yugi, rubbing at the headache that she knew was fast on it's way. "Tall. Very tall. He was wearing a turban on his head, and he had a golden key around his neck."

Yugi gasped, and Yami narrowed his eyes. But it was Malik's reaction that shocked her the most.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." Malik groaned, rushing towards Ellie and grasping her shoulders. "_Stay away from him."_

That wasn't exactly reassuring. "It isn't exactly a choice, Malik." She said bitterly.

Malik's face darkened, taking on the look of insanity that scared Ellie, and had her suddenly wishing that he wasn't so close. She felt that he was going to have another fit of uncontrollable rage, and Ellie would rather not be in his clutches were that to happen. He squeezed her shoulders painfully.

"Promise me that you'll stay away from him, Ellie." He shook her shoulders, and Ellie was grateful to see that she wasn't the cause for his sudden fit of anger. Unfortunately, she was still in it's way.

"Malik, I can't help it. He came to me in my _sleep_."

He shook her shoulders again, and Ellie winced as he began squeezing hard enough to create new bruises. "Promise me!"

"You're hurting me, Malik," Ellie said, and the effect was instantaneous. The crazy look on Malik's face faded, and he just looked scared and sad.

"I'm sorry." He took his hands off of her and backed off, positioning himself as far away as possible.

Hermione, now knowing about Malik's struggles, still looked shocked at his sudden mood change. She shook her head. "But there was no one else there. It was just us girls in the room, but even when Ellie woke up he was still in her head."

Ellie felt a fresh stab of fear at the memory.

"What was he doing in your dream?" Yugi asked.

"I was . . . I was in my bedroom," Ellie began, editing out the part where she was falling through the blackness. Hermione scowled, noticing this, but didn't call her out. "At home. And then he walked in the door, and looked as though he was going to put the key to my forehead. Like he was going to unlock it," She twisted her mouth in confusion. "I knew that I was in a dream, though, so I made myself wake up. Then he tried to grab me." She finally looked up at each of the boys. "But even when I woke up, I could feel him in my head."

"But you pushed him out," Hermione said.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Malik's face had once again turned angry at the description of the man in Ellie's head, and he spoke for the first time since his outburst. "That man's name is _Shadi,"_ he spat the name out. "He uses that key to unlock your soul. It shows him _everything_ about you and your personality, and can even use it to change you."

Ellie crossed her arms defensively against her chest, feeling violated all over again.

"But he shouldn't be able to do that in a dream," Yugi pointed out. "He has to physically be there in person."

"As Hermione said, there was nobody else there." Yami nodded.

"But what does he want with you in the first place?" Malik asked Ellie. "You have never even been exposed to our magic."

Ellie frowned. The gig was up, and it was time to finally admit exactly _why_ they had been in Knockturn Alley that day.

"Um, I have a little confession to make," Ellie said nervously.

**XXX**

Ryou still hadn't woken up.

The dorm had long since been emptied, as the rest of his roommates had gone to breakfast and class, assuming Ryou to be sleeping in _again._ The shrimp and Malik clearly hadn't bought this story though, and had rushed down to the common room quite early to discuss it without Bakura around.

But, believing himself to be alone, he had phased out. He was currently sitting at Ryou's bedside, head in hands.

_What had he done?_

The fit of rage that Bakura had experienced when Ryou called him weak had been just that, a fit of rage. It had only taken the former King of Thieves about an hour to begin to feel remorse, and that was when he had crossed the hall to his hikari's soul room to apologize.

But Ryou's unconscious form was still laying on the ground. He hadn't moved an inch.

It was at that moment that Bakura had realized that something was really wrong.

He had picked Ryou up, and gently carried him over to the couch. Ryou's soul room was a reflection of the living room in his old house, and Bakura knew that it was because this is where he held many memories of hanging out with his family before the accident.

But now, sitting in the dorm by Ryou's still sleeping form, Bakura realized that the unconscious state of their body was both a blessing and a curse. If Bakura would have been able to access it, he would have been able to get to Ellie.

He didn't know which disgusted him more, the fact that he had attacked Ryou and rendered him unconscious for days, or that he was fully intending to rape a 15 year old girl.

He was almost dreading the moment that Ryou woke up, because he would _know_ what Bakura had planned to do.

His musings were interrupted when the door banged open, and Bakura jumped up. It was one thing for one of their roommates to see him out in the open, but it would be even worse for them to catch him in the defeated position he had assumed next to Ryou.

But the intruder was none other than Malik, followed closely by the shrimp, Hermione, and Ellie.

Bakura froze when he saw her. He had been dreading the moment that he would see her ever since he had came to his senses after attacking Ryou, but he didn't expect this. She usually had a pretty light aura, almost as light as that of the hikaris. But today her aura was dark enough to challenge even those of the yamis themselves.

But no, it wasn't _her_ aura that was so dark. It was just that the shadows surrounding her was blocking her aura from shining through. Bakura doubted that she could even feel it, but it looked as though somebody had been using some pretty heavy shadow magic on her.

She apparently wasn't all that worried about the shadows covering her from head to toe, though. Ignoring Bakura, she rushed straight to Ryou's sleeping form and gently brushed a stray lock of hair off of his forehead. "What's wrong with him?"

But just because the girl was covered in shadows didn't mean that Bakura had forgotten his reservations about seeing her. He didn't like that she was mere inches away from his corporeal form. He stepped back until he was standing a few feet away, determinedly keeping his eyes off of her.

"Dunno." He answered curtly, desperate to hide his guilt. "Shouldn't you all be in class?"

"This is more important," Yugi said, joining Ellie next to Ryou's bed. "Ellie and Hermione have something to tell us."

Bakura frowned. "Does this have something to do with the giant storm cloud blocking Blondie's aura?"

Ellie finally took her attention off of Ryou, and turned to face him. He reluctantly met her eyes. "You can see it too?"

He forced himself to give her one of his famous scowls. "Of course I can."

"What did you have to tell us?" Malik asked impatiently. Clearly it was going to be one of _those_ days for the Tomb Keeper. "It must be pretty important if you wanted Bakura to hear, as well."

It also must have pretty important for Hermione to skip class.

Hermione, who had joined Ellie and Yugi next to Ryou, turned her attention away from the unconscious boy and onto Bakura. "Not until you tell us what happened to Ryou."

Wow. That girl must have some balls to challenge Bakura like that. And he thought that she was supposed to be _smart._

Bakura growled, and made a move towards her. _No one_ spoke to him like that.

He didn't get far though. The bloody Tomb Keeper stepped in front of her, with a pissed expression and crossed arms.

"She's right, Tomb Robber. Ryou isn't just _sleeping._ You did something to him. Fess up." Malik growled. The Pharaoh phased out as well and took up a place next to him.

"Yes, Bakura. It is time that you admitted to what you have done." He said in that irritatingly authoritative voice of his, pointing his finger straight at Bakura's face.

Bakura scowled. "I assure you, Pharaoh, if you don't get that finger out of my face I will shove it where Ra's sun doesn't-"

"Look!" The shrimp interrupted him, leaving Ellie perched alone by Ryou. "We know that you're fighting something, Bakura. We know that you didn't mean to hurt Ryou. But we can't help him if you don't tell us what's _wrong."_

He was smarter than he looked. Yugi had figured out what his imbecile yami hadn't - that Bakura actually responded much better to reason than confrontation.

But that didn't mean he was going to up and allow himself to lose face. "Fine." He snapped dramatically. "I attacked him with the shadows in the corridor between our soul rooms. It was the same thing that Tomb Robber did to that fat broad." He refused to call that woman by her actual name.

Hermione and Ellie's faces took on confused expressions at this. But the other three all looked shocked.

"Why?" Yugi asked.

Bakura shrugged, knowing that he looked as though he didn't give a damn, but his conscience was wreaking havoc on his emotions. "He pissed me off. You two are the experts on this thing that's supposedly inside of me, so you tell me."

Yami and Yugi shared a confused look, and were obviously communicating through their mind link. Bakura actually found himself curious to what they were saying.

"You attacked Ryou?" Ellie's voice finally broke through. She sounded disgusted. "He _trusted_ you."

Bakura didn't reply. He felt yet another stab of remorse at that. He knew the implications of what he had done, and didn't want to be reminded. Especially by _her. _And he was interested to see what the shrimp and the Pharaoh were about to say.

"We think that he won't wake up because you attacked his soul, and not his body." He turned to the Tomb Keeper. "Malik, can you fix him? The Rod is better suited for this than the Puzzle."

Malik nodded. "I think so."

**XXX**

Malik pulled the rod out of his book bag, and approached Ryou's body. Ellie scooted down to allow him access, sitting on the edge of the bed and clasping Ryou's hand in both of her own. She didn't know what Malik was about to do, or how Ryou was going to react to it, but she wanted to at least give him some comfort if it was needed.

Malik had closed his eyes, and looked as though he were concentrating hard on waking Ryou up.

Ellie looked at Ryou's face and thought that it was almost a shame to wake him up. He looked so peaceful. That wasn't an emotion usually expressed in Ryou, as he was usually blushing over something or another, dealing with an evil spirit, or concentrating hard on his schoolwork. The look on his face right now reminded Ellie very much of the picture of him in her dream, where he was smiling as though he hadn't a care in the world.

Everyone else had gathered around the bed. Hermione stood on Ryou's other side, with Yugi and Yami next to her. Ellie felt Bakura standing behind her, and she stiffened slightly.

She wouldn't say that she was afraid of _Bakura_. She believed Yugi and Yami, how they said that he was being influenced by something else. That's what she was afraid of. He constantly gave off an angry, scary vibe. But Ellie sometimes felt as though there was more to him than that. Almost as if he were putting on an act lately, to appear more intimidating.

And she knew that he felt bad for hurting Ryou. She saw it in his eyes when she accused him of betraying his trust.

Ellie suddenly felt an unpleasant prickling on the back of her neck that broke her out of her musings. She swore that she felt Ryou's hand tighten around hers the slightest bit.

The prickling on her neck then got even worse, and Ellie knew that she was feeling the rush of magic that Malik was pushing at Ryou. She felt as though she should have been scared, sitting so close to such a powerful magic. Especially such a powerful magic that was being wielded by such an unstable young man. But she wasn't afraid. She just felt anticipation for the moment when Ryou woke up.

His hand squeezed hers again, this time harder.

"Ryou?" She asked, pulling his hand into her lap and leaning closer to him. His eyelids fluttered.

"It's working," Hermione breathed.

"Come on, Malik," Yugi urged. "I know you can do this."

Ellie felt the magic emanating from Malik reach it's peak, and Ryou's eyes slowly opened.

Ellie had never noticed before, but they were the most beautiful shade of chocolate brown.

She sighed in relief.

Ryou's eyes quickly went from a sleepy blinking to wide-eyed . . . Was that horror?

And it was aimed straight at Bakura.

"What did you do to me, Koe?" He whispered, leaning backwards in order to get as far away from Bakura as possible.

Ellie gently pulled on his hand, both trying to stop him from moving away and to get his attention. "Ryou, it's okay. He didn't mean it." She was shocked to find herself actually defending Bakura. She had no idea where it came from, but she found that she believed her own words. She squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Ryou's horrified eyes slowly traveled from his yami to Ellie's own worried face. His expression didn't turn to one of instant relief as Ellie had expected, but it turned even _more _horrified when he looked at her.

"No," he whispered. Ellie figured that he must have noticed her eclipsed aura, and was about to explain, but his eyes tore back to Bakura. "You didn't."

Didn't what? Ellie was sure that Ryou knew what had happened: Bakura had attacked him. But this implied something else.

"Ryou, it's okay-" Malik began, but Ryou's eyes had traveled to where Ellie had his hand clasped in her own. He ripped it away, effectively shocking Malik into silence.

Confused and hurt, Ellie looked to Hermione for some form of reassurance in a comforting look. But she found that Hermione's gaze was instead locked on Bakura.

She turned her head to see what Hermione was looking at, and was incredibly surprised to see that Bakura's face had transformed into an expression of deep sorrow. He actually looked like he was going to cry. His and Ryou's gazes were locked, and it was obvious that they were communicating.

Ellie looked back to Ryou, who was shaking his head, and he removed his gaze from Bakura and fixated it firmly onto his hands.

Ellie leant forward again, desperate to quell the fear that was tainting Ryou's innocent features. She once again tried to take his hand in hers, but he flinched away so violently when she touched him that she effectively gave up.

_What had Bakura done?_

"Ryou," Malik said firmly, "This is important. Shadi came to Ellie in a dream."

"_What?_"

"Malik!" Both Hermione and Yugi chastised.

"He what?" Ryou asked, rounding back on Ellie. "Did he hurt you?"

Biting her lip, Ellie shook her head. She stood up off of her perch on Ryou's bed, and walked towards the window, gazing out. She didn't want to have this conversation, because she knew what was coming. Ellie wrapped her arms around her midsection uncomfortably.

"What did he want?" Ellie was shocked that Bakura had asked this question. She twisted around to face the group.

Hermione, she saw, had walked over to join her.

Given confidence by her friend's firm presence at her side, Ellie decided that it was best not to beat around the bush. She already had delayed telling Yugi, Yami and Malik in the classroom by saying that Ryou needed to know too, but there was no backing out now.

"Well, we kind of lied to you." Ellie began nervously, eyeing Malik and trying to gauge what his reaction would be. Right now he had on an excellent poker face, which didn't exactly make Ellie feel better.

"Not just to you," Hermione said quickly, apparently trying to make it seem better than it was. "Actually, we lied to everyone about this." Except Harry and Ron. But the transfers _really_ did not need to know _that _just yet.

"Remember that day we all went to Diagon Alley, and Hermione and I, er, kind of ran into some death eaters?" What a stupid question. How could they forget? All of their faces darkened though, so Ellie figured that they all knew what was coming. She sighed. "We followed you, and got sucked into that . . . Place." Ellie had been dreaming about it for months, yet she still didn't know what to call it other than 'that place'. But it still instilled a healthy dose of fear in her.

"You were transported to the Shadow Realm?" Yugi gasped. "How?"

"We were kind of hoping that you'd tell us," Hermione said.

"But the Shadow Realm reveals your soul. There's no way we wouldn't have noticed," Malik shook his head dubiously.

"We were invisible," Hermione shrugged.

"How?" Yami asked.

The girls looked at each other. Harry wasn't particularly stingy about who knew about his dad's old cloak, but they still didn't feel right about giving away his secrets without his permission. "There are ways." Ellie eventually said.

"But-" Yami began to argue, but Hermione interrupted him.

"Look, that secret isn't ours to tell. I wasn't even conscious long enough to get a good look around, but the point is that Ellie's dreams started that very night." Hermione said.

"What are your dreams of?" Yami asked. He seemed to be taking this well. In fact, all of the boys seemed to be taking this pretty well. Even Malik was acting very calm and reasonable.

Except for Ryou. He hadn't said a word since they had began their confession. Ellie looked to him, and noticed that he looked quite sick indeed. She frowned, and realized that she had yet to answer Yami's question. "Of that pl- the Shadow Realm, you called it? I just dream that I'm falling through it, and I eventually land in the Eye of- that eye." She saved herself just in time, and pointed to Malik's rod, where the Eye of Horus was winking in the sunlight. The boys didn't yet know that they had Bill tell them about the items, _or _that she had seen the Eye somewhere before. Ellie planned on keeping it that way.

Unless they would fess up.

But she didn't think that was likely. Luckily, nobody noticed her slip.

"You know what the Shadow Realm looks like?" Malik asked, surprised. "How long were you awake for?"

Ellie shrugged. "A minute or two? Not that long, really." All of the boys gasped. Even Ryou, who had been averting his gaze this entire time, actually looked up. "What?"

"I think that we figured out what Shadi wants with you," Malik said.

"Huh? What does he want?" Ellie asked.

"Your endurance."

**XXX**

**Whew. I'm glad that's over. Are you? Probably. But for the sake of my ego let's say that you're not. ^.^**

**Anyways, I'm not really entirely sure that Ellie lasting 1-2 minutes in the Shadow Realm for her first time is a particularly amazing feat, but in my mind it is. Considering she's never even heard of it before, and Hermione plopped right over the second she was sucked in? Yeah, sure. Let's just say it is for the purposes of this story.**

**Yeah, yeah, I know that I'm abusing my creative license again "for the purposes of the story". Please don't take it away! **

**Lalala, something else I wanted to say is that I apologize for not including more Harry and Ron. They do both have big roles in the story, but right now I'm trying to establish OTHER relationships. Unfortunately, they're kind of unimportant at the moment. I was planning on incorporating them in more by now, but my story and characters really do have minds of their own and Merlin knows that I can't control them. I wanted Ellie and Hermione to be really close with the transfers and have them convince Harry and Ron to be friends with them, but the process of establishing the trust is taking a lot longer than I thought it would.**

**Anyways, like it? Hate it? Please let me know! Also, if anyone has any ideas on WHAT EXACTLY went through Ryou's head when he was unconscious, hit me up! You didn't think that he was just peacefully sleeping, did you? No way, I'm too mean for that.**

**See ya next week!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey guys! Lot's of good stuff ahead. Be excited.**

**Warning: This chapter has bits that are **_**pretty**_** disturbing. It's still rated T, but it's a very strong T. I tried to make it as least graphic as possible, but I figured I should warn y'all anyways. Especially since this story started off with a K rating. XD**

**Disclaimer: You guys all know the deal by now. Well, hopefully you do. You really should, though. So yeah, nothing is mine, and it probably isn't yours either. Right. Hopefully someday something **_**will**_** be mine, and I won't have to write these disclaimers anymore. But until then, it isn't. Uhh . . . I'll shut up now.**

**I switched the hikari/yami talking method. It used to be -blah-, but now I'll just italicize it. I was having a problem with people interrupting them, since that's usually signified with a hyphen as well. It just looked weird, so I figured I would change it.**

**So, yeah. New hikari/yami mind link = **_**blah**_

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 23**

When Bakura hit Ryou with the shadows, he instantly blacked out from the strangely real body he occupied while dwelling in his mind. The body was real enough to feel pain, and he sure as hell felt pain from this attack. It hurt. _A lot_. Ryou felt as though he had just been hit with a truck.

He was floating through the pain, blinded by the shadows. He screamed loudly. It seemed that the pain and the blindness would never end. All he wanted was to plant his feet on firm ground.

Ryou honestly had no idea how long he had gone through that, only that it was a very, very long time.

But, eventually, the pain had stopped. All of Ryou's fears just forgotten.

He went from one extreme to the other, with no clue how or when it had happened.

Just seconds ago, he was screaming in agony, but now he suddenly felt better than he had in a long time. He felt better than he had ever felt. Even before his mother and sister died. Even before his father left. He suddenly felt better than _ever._

Suddenly, he was kissing Ellie.

How he got into this situation, he had no idea. But he certainly wasn't complaining. They were in his old living room, completely alone. Ryou was laying on top of her on his mother's old couch.

It was _so _much better than he could have ever imagined. She was so soft, so pretty, so _feminine_. And this close, Ellie smelled like the prettiest flowers. It was a smell that was familiar to him, a scent that brought him a strange sense of security and comfort. His smile widened even further into her lips, and he felt her smile back.

"What are you so happy about?" Ellie giggled, pulling back slightly and looking into his eyes. Ryou groaned softly at the loss of contact, he was already missing her taste. But her hands ran up his back and into his hair, meaning he couldn't stay disappointed with her for long.

Cupping her cheeks gently, Ryou gave her one soft kiss before responding. "You," He said simply, before leaning in to kiss her even deeper than before. He didn't know where his confidence had suddenly come from. He just suddenly knew what he was doing, even though he had never kissed anyone before. Especially like _this._

Ryou's hands slowly ghosted down her neck, and he could feel goose bumps erupt from her soft flesh. Ellie elicited a soft moan into his mouth, and he immediately got a rush from the power that he held over her.

He chuckled softly, and allowed his hands to continue southwards. They glimpsed over her chest and down the side of her waist, finally taking refuge on the back of her thighs. He pulled her legs up, inviting her to wrap them around his body. She arched her back, allowing them to finally be pressed so _tightly_ against each other.

They were both still fully dressed, but in that moment it was kind of like they weren't.

Leaving one hand on Ellie's hip, Ryou used the other to slowly trace it's way back up the path it had just taken down. This time, however, he stopped at her chest and began firmly kneading the soft mound of her breast.

Ellie took one hand out of the tangled mess that was now his hair, and placed it on his chest, where she pushed back slightly. "Ryou . . ." She whispered, but he didn't let her finish her sentence. He leaned back in, and used his lips to force her mouth open, rendering her incapable of finishing her sentence. Taking her slight intake of breath as the means he craved to continue, Ryou moved his other hand from her hip back so it rested on her behind, squeezing and rubbing her through the fabric of her trousers. This time, he was the one that moaned.

He felt Ellie's legs unwind themselves from around his midsection, and the hand that was still in his hair joined the one on his chest, and they forcefully pushed him back. "Ryou," She said firmly. Her face was flushed, and she was panting. Ryou thought that she had never looked more beautiful. "We've gone far enough."

He frowned, but did not move his hands from their positions on her chest and rear. "But we were just starting to have fun," He argued, leaning in for another kiss. He didn't understand why Ellie wanted to stop. Couldn't she see how much he wanted her?

"No!" Ellie leant back and turned her head in order to keep her mouth away from Ryou's lips. She wiggled away as much as she could while pinned down under Ryou's body, in an attempt to get him to move his hands.

But this only irritated him. Why was she trying to get away? He had been waiting so _long_ for this, he had _dreamt_ about it, _fantasized _about it. Why did she want to stop? He _deserved _this.

But, no. Ryou sighed. He had to stop. He didn't want Ellie to feel pressured in any way, and Ryou couldn't bring himself to upset her anyways.

Ryou went to remove his hands, but with a jolt of horror he realized that he couldn't. His hands were now moving of their own accord.

"Stop it!" she cried, a panicky look suddenly overtaking her face. "Let me go!"

Ryou didn't know what was happening. One minute they were acting like the couple Ryou always wished that they could be, and the next Ryou's body was being manipulated. He felt as though he were a puppet, and the puppeteer was laughing at his sad attempts to stop himself.

All Ryou could do was watch the fear in Ellie's eyes as his hands reached up in order to pin her arms over her head.

He felt his lips curl into a sadistic smile before he leaned in to devour her mouth with his. The gentleness that he had exercised earlier was gone. This was more of an animalistic passion that could only lead to one thing.

Ellie screamed into his mouth, but that only spurred him on more.

He felt a sick pleasure in the pit of his stomach at her fruitless attempts to escape. It was true, Ellie was a lot smaller than him. And a lot weaker. He really only needed one hand to keep her arms pinned, leaving his other free to explore . . .

All Ryou could do was watch in absolute horror as his body continued it's assault on the girl that he was so hell bent on protecting. However, the pleasure that his body began to feel was so obviously not his own. He was disgusted by his own actions.

He distantly felt his body's arousal growing as both his and Ellie's clothes were ripped off. She continued screaming and pleading with him to stop.

Ryou just wished that she knew how he was waging the very same war with his body at that very moment.

Tears streaked down Ryou's face. At the very least Ryou just wanted to be able to close his eyes, so he wouldn't have to watch.

The fight that Ellie had been putting up had turned to a silent acceptance, her eyes looked dead as she lay under him, looking away from her attacker. It was worse, in a way, the fact that she wasn't fighting anymore.

She had just given up.

He had turned into a monster.

And still, he half enjoyed it. His mind was hating every second, screaming at his body to stop, allowing the tears to roll down his face and onto Ellie's. But his body was thrilled at the contact and the movement. It wanted _more._

_You're enjoying this, aren't you? _A familiar voice sounded in his head. Bakura.

But, no. It was wrong. Very wrong. His voice was distorted badly, as though he were speaking through a cheap microphone.

Ryou was too distraught to answer, as his body had just forced Ellie past the point of no return. She screamed once again, this time in pain.

But he couldn't stop.

He _was _enjoying it. Ryou was under the impression that if he had suddenly gained control of his body back, he wouldn't be able to stop anyways.

_You love it. The power you have over her. Listen to her scream. _The voice cackled manically inside his head. _It's all your fault, little Ryou. You made us want her._

Ellie had come out of her catatonic state in order to fight him again, but to no avail. All her fighting and thrashing was only making it more enjoyable for him.

Ryou never really realized that the voice was referring to itself as more than one person.

He fruitlessly continued his fight with his body, desperate to stop hurting Ellie. He would do _anything_ to get rid of the look of pain on her face. He couldn't stand it, especially since it was mixed with fear, betrayal and absolute hatred. All aimed at him. She was looking directly at Ryou's face, and he was looking at hers, so he was getting blasted with her emotions full-on.

But he couldn't stop.

When Ryou finished, he gave Ellie a particularly rough bite on the neck. It was his body's natural instinct to mark his territory. He dressed quickly and stalked out the door, leaving Ellie's abused form laying on the couch.

He regained control of his body at the very same time in which the door dissolved behind him. Ryou desperately wanted to go back and check on Ellie. Take care of her, apologize, _anything_, but his path was blocked. There was only one way to go, which was forward.

And forward led to a familiar looking car.

Ryou climbed in, with his thoughts whirling. The tears still lined his face, but they had stopped flowing. He somehow had the sense that none of this was real.

But that didn't make what just happened any less horrifying. It felt real enough to him.

A familiar laugh tinkled to his right, starting Ryou out of his thoughts, and causing him to completely forget about what had just happened.

Ryou had assumed that he was the only one in the car, but when he looked over he saw that he was seated next to Amane, and in front of her in the driver's seat was his mother.

He gasped.

"Did you hear that, Ryou? Father is getting off work early tonight so we can all go to the fair," Amane said. She looked to be about eleven years old, and looked as healthy as could be. Her glasses were crooked because she would never stop fiddling with them, and her favorite golden locket dangled from her neck. It was a gift from their Grandmother, before she died many years ago.

"Yeah," Ryou smiled at her, and reached over to hold her hand. "I heard."

He couldn't stop staring. He was terrified that the sight of his live baby sister would be taken away from him again, so he wanted to drink it up as much as he could. He squeezed her hand, feeling that somehow she could anchor him in this fantasy that he knew wouldn't last.

Amane's curly hair was a mess - as usual. She sat up straight, an act that Ryou knew made her feel taller. She was tiny, even for an eleven year old. And she had the same pale skin and blonde hair that both of the Bakura children shared, making her look positively innocent.

Their mother was talking on her cell phone, driving down the highway. It was just as well, Ryou missed his mother dearly but he only had eyes for his sister. He was staring at her so much that he didn't even notice the car swerve.

"Mommy!" Amane screamed as they crashed into the guardrail. Ryou had never even gotten the chance to see what had caused them to swerve, but his memory from the original accident told him that it was a little boy chasing after a ball.

The entire driver's side of the car was mangled beyond recognition. Ryou's mother was slumped over the steering wheel, eyes staring blankly ahead. Her blood was splattered everywhere.

She was dead.

In real life, this scene haunted him equally as much as the death of Amane. But for whatever reason, an unknown force drew his attention away from his mother's mangled body and onto his baby sister.

Still clinging to her hand, Ryou saw that she was still alive. Her small body was wedged in between the twisted door and her mother's seat. The guardrail had sliced through the car and was sticking straight into her chest. To add insult to injury, she was bleeding copiously from a gash in her forehead, and the blood mingled with her tears as it dripped down her face.

"Ryou, help me!" She sobbed weakly, looking through her cracked glasses at the injury that would soon end her life. "It hurts."

Ryou wanted to scream when he realized that his body was not his own to control again. He couldn't move. All he could do was squeeze Amane's hand, and watch with absolutely horrified eyes as her blood was pumped out onto the backseat.

"Amane," He finally managed to say. "Please. Don't go."

"I'm dying," She said. But her voice was off. It was completely different, yet still very familiar. "You did this to me, Ryou."

And then, it was as though someone had pushed a fast-forward button, and Amane was growing up before his very eyes. It was one of the creepiest things that Ryou had ever seen. Her soft, childlike features thinned into those of a teenager, her flat chest expanded, her eyes changed from brown to blue, and the tangled mess of curls on her head tamed slightly to resemble the beautiful curls that he instantly recognized.

To Ryou's dawning horror, Amane was Ellie, and Ellie was Amane. She had tears streaking down her face and her lips were rapidly darkening into a powdery blue color.

"Ryou, help me," she whispered.

Ryou realized that he was crying, too. "I can't, Ellie. I'm so sorry."

"Ryou?"

He clutched her hand with every ounce of energy that he had. "Don't go."

It was even worse than before. Now Ryou was watching Amane die and couldn't do a thing to stop it.

He was watching _Ellie_ die and couldn't do a thing about it.

He squeezed his eyes shut to block it out.

"It's working." He heard, and was instantly confused. That wasn't Ellie's voice.

"Come on, Malik," Another voice said. "I know you can do this." That was a guy talking. A familiar one.

And he recognized that name. . . Malik. His friend, Malik.

Yes, it was all coming back to him now.

Bakura had attacked him.

_Bakura_ had sent him to his own personal hell.

_Bakura_ had done this to him.

He opened his eyes. He was no longer in the car, but in his own bed in his dormitory.

Ryou blinked at the bright lights, and all the people surrounding him for a moment. He ignored the sighs of relief that he heard. His eyes searched around until they found their mark. When they did, Ryou flinched. He was terrified by the mere sight of his yami, regardless of all the others surrounding them.

"What did you do to me, Koe?"

_Ryou, I-_

A tug on his hand interrupted Bakura. Like in his nightmare, Ellie was holding his hand in real life. "Ryou, it's okay. He didn't mean it." She said, squeezing his hand again.

What was that supposed to mean? Of _course_ Bakura had meant it. He had been so stupid these past few months, actually believing that his yami had changed. He could never let his guard down, lest he get attacked again.

He shifted his gaze from Bakura to Ellie, the awful truth dawning on him the second his eyes met hers. Her aura was black. Did Bakura succeed in raping her? If so, why was she defending him?

If he did, though, it would probably explain his dream. They were linked, after all.

"No," He whispered, tearing his gaze away from Ellie and onto the man that had caused him so much anguish. "You didn't."

_I didn't._

_But you would have, _Ryou replied sadly.

Bakura didn't respond.

Ryou realized that Bakura was right after all. He had to stop thinking about her, especially like _that._ His infatuation with Ellie could lead to nothing good. He needed to distance himself from her.

"Ryou, it's okay-" Malik started to say, but he had trailed off when Ryou had ripped his hand out of Ellie's grasp. He steeled his heart when he saw her hurt expression out of the corner of his eye.

_Ryou, I'm sorry. _The emotions from his yami were trickling through the mind link, and Ryou actually felt deep regret resonating from him. But that didn't change what he did.

_Don't._

Ellie reached for his hand again, and Ryou flinched away. She stopped. He didn't want to touch her after what he did to her in that nightmare. She would most likely agree, had she known. He wouldn't let her come near him. It wasn't safe.

"Ryou," Malik said. Ryou was glad for an interruption, because it sounded like this was urgent. Maybe it would allow his mind to dwell on something else for a moment. "This is important. Shadi came to Ellie in a dream."

"_What?"_ He demanded. That was not a welcome distraction. Ryou hadn't wanted anything to do with Shadi since he heard what he was capable of, and the thought of Shadi visiting Ellie's dreams disturbed him almost as much as what he just experienced. Ra knows what he could have done to her.

"Malik!" Hermione and Yugi snapped. They were probably upset that they had told Ryou this, as his protectiveness for Ellie was known by everyone except her.

"He what?" He demanded Ellie. "Did he hurt you?"

_That explains her aura_, Bakura mused.

Ellie bit her lip, and shook her head. She still looked hurt by Ryou's actions, and his heart broke even more than it already was. He didn't blame her for getting up off of his bed and walking towards the window. Even though he instantly felt cold without her proximity.

She looked so vulnerable, poised in front of the window with her arms wrapped around herself. Ryou thought back to the sight of her dying in the car. He shivered, and fought the urge to get up and go wrap her in his arms.

"What did he want?" Bakura asked her. Ryou felt an honest sense of worry coming out of Bakura, and he was confused. Did he want to hurt her or protect her? He didn't understand.

Hermione, Ryou noticed, had stiffened at this question. She quickly joined Ellie's side, slightly protectively.

When joined by her friend, Ellie's arms came down to rest at her side, and she stood up straighter. Apparently Hermione's presence gave her confidence, and Ryou couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy.

"Well, we kind of lied to you." She began, eyeing Malik.

Ryou then understood. They were both nervous over how he would react. That didn't exactly make him feel better, because whatever they had lied about couldn't be anything that would make him happy.

"Not just to you," Hermione said defensively. "Actually, we lied to everyone about this."

Ryou tried not to show his betrayal at this confession. Because he, along with Yugi and Malik, had all trusted the girls. He kept his gaze fixed on his hands.

"Remember that day we all went to Diagon Alley, and Hermione and I, er, kind of ran into some death eaters?" Ellie asked, sounding nervous.

_Oh no._ Ryou had a feeling that his fears were about to be confirmed: that they had, indeed, been trapped in the shadow game that Bakura had caused.

"We followed you, and got sucked into that . . . place."

Ryou sucked in a breath, and his gaze jerked up to look at Ellie and Hermione's pale faces. Once again, his yami had been the root of Ellie's anguish.

"You were transported to the Shadow Realm?" Yugi gasped. "How?"

"We were kind of hoping that you'd tell us," Hermione said.

"But the Shadow Realm reveals your soul. There's no way we wouldn't have noticed," Malik said, shaking his head.

"We were invisible," Hermione shrugged.

_That's impossible_, Bakura said dubiously. _We would have seen them. Two little girls in the shadow realm would certainly stick out._

Ryou pointedly ignored him.

"How?" Yami asked.

The girls looked at each other, looking very guilty in Ryou's opinion. "There are ways," Ellie eventually said, not taking her gaze off of Hermione.

"But-" Yami began to argue, but Hermione interrupted him.

"Look, that secret isn't ours to tell. I wasn't even conscious long enough to get a good look around, but the point is that Ellie's dreams started that very night."

What dreams? Ryou was liking this conversation less and less. He was beginning to wish that he had never met Ellie at all. It seems that their presence at Hogwarts was causing her a lot of trouble.

"What are your dreams of?" Yami asked calmly.

Ryou looked around at the rest of the group. They all looked calm. Ryou could tell that they were upset for the same reasons as him: that their presence was having a negative effect on both Ellie and Hermione. Even Malik looked worried for them. But he knew that he was the only one that was overridden with _this _much guilt.

He felt sick.

"Of that pl- the Shadow Realm, you called it? I just dream that I'm falling through it, and I eventually land in the Eye of- that eye." Ellie said, pointing at the Millennium Rod that was still grasped in Malik's hand.

"You know what the Shadow Realm looks like?" Malik asked, surprised. "How long were you awake for?"

Ellie shrugged. "A minute or two? Not that long, really." Ryou gasped. Even he had trouble staying awake that long in the Shadow Realm without the presence of his yami.

"What?" Ellie asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I think that we figured out what Shadi wants with you," Malik said.

Ryou wanted to cry. This was all his fault.

"Huh? What does he want?" Ellie asked.

"Your endurance." Malik told her.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked him, placing a comforting hand on Ellie's arm.

"For lack of a better explanation, the shadow realm is another dimension," Yugi said. "It drains your energy. _We _can barely survive that long in it without the help of our yamis."

"So you must really be something special." Malik nodded at her. "I wonder what Shadi wants to do with you?"

Ryou couldn't believe that Malik was speaking of Ellie's fate with such indifference. He was on the verge of losing it himself, and it took every ounce of self restraint not to jump up and hide Ellie from the rest of the world himself.

_Nothing will happen to her, Ryou. We will keep her safe_. Bakura said.

Ryou didn't believe a word that he said.

**XXX**

A few days later, Malik, Yugi and Ryou were on their way to their very first defense meeting.

Ryou was trailing behind them, as per the norm these days. Ever since he had woken up, the poor guy had been jumping all over the place. He would only speak when spoken to, he's been pale, and Malik knew that he hasn't been sleeping at night.

He flinched whenever someone tried to touch him.

And for some reason, Ryou wouldn't go near Ellie. He would purposely avoid sitting next to her in class or at meals, he would leave whenever she showed up, and he rejected any attempts at conversation she made with him.

Malik didn't know what was worse: Ryou's fearful behavior, or the hurt look on Ellie's face whenever he would reject her. To Ellie's credit, though, she never stopped trying to reach out to him.

"What are we going to do about him?" Yugi asked Malik in a whisper. Ryou was, by now, too far back to hear them.

Malik shrugged. "Wait it out, I guess." He took a discreet look back at Ryou, and leaned down so he would be closer to Yugi's height. "I wonder what he saw to make him like this."

"Yami says that Bakura's attack could have provoked him to see the things that hurt him the most." Yugi tried to let the implications of that one go unsaid, but Malik wasn't one to avoid touchy subjects.

"You mean he saw Bakura attacking Ellie."

"Not just 'attacking' . . ." Yugi said uncomfortably. "He's been distancing himself from her. Could it be to _protect_ her from Bakura?"

"_Protect_?" Malik asked. He didn't understand the emphasis that Yugi had placed on the word.

"You know . . . _protect._" Yugi flushed.

"Oh." Malik understood now. "Ryou likes her, so naturally, so does Bakura. I see." This _was_ an uncomfortable topic. "So, you're saying that he saw. . . you know . . ."

Yugi nodded, with his gaze firmly fixed on the floor. "Poor Ryou." Yugi said.

"Poor Bakura," Malik said bitterly. He could relate to having a complete psychopath influencing your actions. "It's not even his fault."

Yugi shook his head. "I wonder if Ryou will forgive him."

Their conversation ended there, though, as they had finally reached their destination. They walked through the door that Hermione had directed them to into a room packed with students. They both waved cheerily back at Ellie and Hermione and pulled up cushions next to them, examining their surroundings.

"Hey, Ellie, have you-" Yugi began.

"No!" Ellie said exasperatedly. Ever since Monday morning, Malik, Yugi and Hermione have constantly been at Ellie, wondering if Shadi had come to her again. She insisted that he hadn't however her dreams of falling through the Shadow Realm had persisted. "Just the falling dream. Don't worry!"

The blackness in her aura had faded to almost nothing, but Malik was sure to keep an eye on her. He wanted to catch any weird behavior.

When everyone had finally arrived, Harry got up and started the lesson. The group dubbed themselves the DA, and Harry sent them off the practice disarming spells.

Malik was annoyed to see that everyone else partnered up with their friends to practice. The pairs were Hermione and Ellie, Yugi and Ryou, Ron and Neville, with Harry supervising and giving pointers. This left him as the odd one out.

Muttering angrily towards his friends, Malik allowed Harry to stick him with a big Gryffindor named something Mclaggen. Malik had seen him around the common room, and he seemed very arrogant. On top of that, he very much didn't like the smirk on Harry's face as he walked away from them.

"I think that it's only fair to warn you that I've already perfected disarming, and I'm probably way out of your league." Mclaggen said, puffing his chest out and pulling his wand out of his pocket.

Malik suddenly understood why Harry had been so pleased to stick them together.

He already hated this guy.

Malik shrugged. "Hey, can't argue with that."

"Why not?" Mclaggen looked confused, like he wasn't used to that kind of response.

"If you argue with an idiot, you just stoop to their level. And then get beaten by experience." He clapped him on the back and stepped away to create a proper dueling distance, smirking at the dumbfounded look on his face.

Mclaggen was _huge,_ but Malik wasn't afraid of him. He'd beaten guys much bigger, even without the use of magic. He hadn't been the leader of the Rare Hunters for nothing. He could take him, should the situation arise.

"Hey, you can't just-"

"Just stun me, Chuckles." Malik said, pulling out his own wand confidently.

Malik, Ryou and Yugi had all perfected their Shield Charms shortly after coming to Hogwarts as a safety precaution. So he was confident that he could deflect anything that Chuckles here threw at him.

Mclaggen looked pissed at his new nickname. "_You're_ the idiot," He said angrily. "And a bloody tit! You asked for it, then!" He waved his wand theatrically. _"Expelliarmus!"_

"_Protego," _Malik muttered at the weak jet of light that was spiraling in his direction. It bounced off of his shield, and zoomed straight back at Mclaggen. His wand limply fell from his hand. "Nice one, Chuckles."

The rest of the meeting continued much like this, with Malik managing to not only conjure the disarming spell correctly, but causing Mclaggen's wand to go flying further and further each time.

By the end of the meeting, the pair effectively hated each other.

And Malik wasn't in the best of moods, either. He had used every ounce of self restraint that evening to keep himself from simply punching this arrogant twat in the face, wands be damned.

Afterwards, the members were milling around as Harry and Hermione insisted that they leave in little groups as to not arouse suspicion from Umbridge. Malik was kind of peeved at being forced to hang back. He had a mountain of homework to do, and really just wanted to go to bed. But everyone else was excitedly discussing the lesson, so he joined Yugi and Ryou. Malik supposed that he would have enjoyed it more had he been partnered with someone else.

Ryou, it seemed, still hadn't yet come out of his shell. However, according to Yugi, he had mastered the disarming spell on his first try.

"Way to go!" Malik said, slightly sarcastically. He didn't mean it, but _he _had mastered it on his first try too, yet no one had congratulated _him._ Luckily, neither Ryou or Yugi picked up on it.

They stayed and talked a bit more as crowd in the room thinned out. Malik wasn't listening to a word. He was keeping an eye on Mclaggen. He wanted to know who he was friendly with, because he felt as though he would need to watch his back from now on.

As Yugi happily talked about his strongest go at the spell, Malik watched warily as Mclaggen approached Ellie. She was alone in the back of the room, gathering pillows. He frowned slightly. Yugi and Ryou's backs were to them, so they didn't see what he saw.

He watched as Chuckles leaned up against the wall in a confident pose, and began talking her up. Malik couldn't hear what was going on, but Ellie's posture screamed that she was not particularly enjoying his company.

She shook her head to something that he asked, and when she began to walk away he moved over so that he was standing in front of her.

Malik almost smiled. He was looking for a fight, and this would provide the perfect excuse. If only Chuckles would cross the line . . .

Mclaggen said something else, and looking exasperated, Ellie shook her head no again and tried to sidestep him. But he grabbed her arm, preventing her from going anywhere.

_Yes._

"Excuse me," Malik said to Yugi and Ryou. His tone was perfectly cheerful, so neither of them thought anything of it. Yugi nodded, and continued his description of what Yami had said during his first few attempts at the spell as though Malik hadn't interrupted him.

Malik jogged up behind Mclaggen and grasped the arm that was holding Ellie in place. He squeezed as hard as he could, causing him to gasp in pain and release a grateful looking Ellie. "Problem?" He asked, his tone perfectly polite. But he was sure to put that threatening glint in his eye as he looked up at Mclaggen.

"There will be if you don't let go of my arm," he hissed, foolishly ignoring the threatening look in Malik's eye,

"Well you seemed perfectly pleased with it when you were holding my friend's arm," Malik said. His polite tone was gone by now. He knew what was coming, and he was anticipating the fight. "I suppose you can dish it out to a nice girl like her, but can't take it from a nice guy like me."

He felt Ellie pull on his arm gently. "Malik, forget about it," She said to him. She obviously sensed how keyed up he was, and was trying to prevent the fight. "Let's go."

Not taking his eyes off of Mclaggen, Malik shook Ellie off. "Stay out of this," He said. It came out harsher than he had intended, but he somehow didn't feel bad.

Funny how he should tell her to stay out of it, anyways. He was technically defending _her_ honor.

Somehow, he didn't care.

He embraced the rage that was slowly filling his body.

"Malik, please," Ellie pleaded, grabbing hold of his arm again and pulling, this time not so gently. She sounded desperate now. "He's not worth it!"

Some small voice of reason in the back of Malik's head told him that she was right, and it wasn't worth it. But it was quickly squashed by the rage filling him.

"Yeah Malik," Mclaggen said, wrenching his arm free. He couldn't quite hide the look of pain on his face as the blood quickly rushed back into his arm. "Why don't you listen to her? You don't want to pick a fight with me anyways."

"Maybe I do." Malik used his now free hand to shove Ellie away. He may have been near breaking point with his rage, but he knew what was coming and didn't want to hurt her again.

"Hey, don't shove her like-"

Malik punched him. Hard.

Right in the mouth. How dare he tell him what to do? It was true, Malik was looking for a fight, but the main reason for punching him was to _protect_ Ellie. From him. So he didn't have the right to tell Malik how to treat her.

And Yugi and Malik wouldn't hold this against him. Neither would most of the Gryffindors. It seemed that a lot of people hated Chuckles.

He lunged after Mclaggen's falling body, continuing to hit him in a blind rage that only got worse with every punch.

He didn't register the screams that came from behind him.

He felt Ellie at his back, trying to wrench him away and begging him to see reason. But he wouldn't listen, he just kept punching him. By now, his nose had erupted in blood and it was coating Malik's knuckles. But he just kept punching.

It didn't take long for the weak hands of Ellie to be pried away from him to be replaced by the surly Fred and George, who for once weren't smiling and laughing at him. The room was dead silent, with every set of eyes on him.

Mclaggen slowly got up and wiped the blood from his face. "Bloody nutter," he said, spitting out a tooth. His voice echoed. He glared at Malik, and backed away slowly, allowing a small Ravenclaw boy to siphon the blood off of his face before leaving.

"Oi, haven't any of you seen a fight before?" Fred called to the staring students, to Malik's immense relief.

"Yeah, don't get your knickers in a bunch. We all knew he had it coming." George said. It worked, though. The threat of being called out by Fred and George had everyone resuming their previous activities, sending the occasional curious glance Malik's way.

Fred and George released him, and his rage subsided. Malik suddenly felt very stupid, and very guilty.

"Malik," Ellie said. There was an exasperated groan in her voice. Now that his initial anger was gone, Malik hoped that she wasn't mad at him. Hoped that she would realize what he already knew: Marik was once again causing him to lash out. "You really shouldn't have done that."

Yugi, Ryou, Hermione, Harry and Ron all quickly joined them.

Malik just shrugged.

Ellie sighed. "Let me see your hand," She said, holding her palm out. Confused, Malik complied. It wasn't until their hands made contact that he felt the pain, and realized that his knuckles were broken.

He refused to show his pain in front of Harry, though, so he didn't make a sound.

"_Episkey," _Ellie said, tapping her wand on his broken hand. It hurt a bit more for a second, but then the pain melted away. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He needed to get Ellie to teach him that one.

Malik wiped his now healed hand on the inside of his robes, and steeled himself for the inevitable flurry of questions that he knew was on it's way.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked, sounding more amused than shocked. _If he only knew, _Malik thought. He felt a pang of pleasure from Marik.

-Oh, piss off.- He thought to him pointlessly, as Malik knew that he couldn't hear him.

"Mclaggen insulted me," Ellie said quickly, shocking Malik. She was lying for him? He was flattered that she cared so much. Malik didn't want his secret getting out, and apparently Ellie was going to help him protect it. He wanted to hug her. "And Malik, being the _gentleman_ that he is, defended me." He caught the sarcastic note that she added in on the word 'gentleman'. It was clear that she was implying she was anything but, and Malik couldn't suppress a grin. He felt a bit better, but the guilt was still gnawing away at his insides.

Fred gasped. "He didn't call you a, a mu- you know."

"No," Ellie shook her head quickly. Malik wondered what Fred was about to imply, but didn't ask. He wanted to protect the lie. Ellie blushed and looked to the ground. "When I wouldn't go out with him, he called me an, erm," she lowered her voice to a shamed whisper. "A lady of the night."

Even through his guilt, Malik wanted to burst out laughing. But he painstakingly kept his poker face in place as each member of the group expressed their horror at this new development. Who knew that Ellie could lie so well?

Yugi, Ryou, and Hermione weren't fooled though. With the exception of Ryou, they all eyed the pair suspiciously. But with the others present, they didn't dare question the true motives of the fight.

When the group finally cleared, leaving Malik and Ellie alone with Yugi, Ryou and Hermione, Malik sighed and turned to Ellie. "I think I owe you an apology. And a thank you."

Ellie looked surprised. "Why do you owe me an apology?"

"For using you as the means to pick a fight," he nervously fiddled with a golden bangle on his wrist, not meeting Ellie's eyes. "I mean, I saw him harassing you, and my first thought was that this was a perfect opportunity to have a go at him."

Everyone in the group frowned. "So that's what really happened?" Hermione asked incredulously. "Mclaggen was hitting on Ellie again, so you used it as an excuse to go and punch him?"

Feeling like he was being reprimanded by Isis, Malik shrugged, feeling very ashamed of himself.

"So he didn't really call you that?" Ryou asked Ellie, speaking out of turn for the first time in days and shocking everyone.

Stunned, Ellie shook her head. "No," She said. "He didn't."

"He'd better not have." Ryou said fiercely, before turning around and leaving the room, once again shocking everyone.

**XXX**

**By a show of hands, is anyone else afraid of Ryou/Bakura/Zorc right now? *raises hand* **

**Okay.**

**By another show of hands, who all feels horrible for Ryou? And Bakura? *raises both hands* Yeah, thought so. I feel **_**sososo**_** bad for doing this to him. To **_**them.**_** I mean, I am the author and all, but he's my baby and I'm putting him through hell. D:**

**My account of the car crash was manipulated and shortened slightly to fit this chapter, but a full account of how it really happened can be found in my up and coming one-shot. It's about 40% done, and should be posted … soon. Ish. (Don't pressure me. I don't have motivation like I used to)**

**Any who, let's shift our attention to Malik now, shall we? I found myself comparing him to Bakura a lot in this chapter. And not only because they're my favorite characters in the series. So, I guess my point is that his time is coming. By this point, Marik is very very strong, and I want you all to keep your eyes on him from now on!**

**As I'm sure you all know, school starts back up next week. (ugh) This will most likely limit my writing time, so don't expect updates as often. I will try my hardest to keep up, but I can't make any promises!**

**Reviews keep my burning passion for writing going, so please don't be afraid to hit me up my sweet little angel faces!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys! **

**You can't even begin to understand how long I've been waiting to write this chapter. I'm so pumped it's finally up. :D **

**So, without any further ado, please read on. I won't bore you with my ANs today.**

**Disclaimer: If I had a penny for every time I wished that I owned something worth owning, then I would be a very rich lady. But alas, I own nothing. Not even most of the characters, events, and settings of this story. *sigh***

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 24**

Ellie was a terrible liar.

She knew that she should keep eye contact, but if she did she would instantly giggle. And even when she _was_ able to keep a perfect poker face, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and now even Ryou could always see right through her. She didn't understand what gave her away on these occasions.

But luckily, the fact that she knew this meant that she was prepared.

Which is why Ellie purposely distanced herself from all of her friends after dinner. She walked a bit behind them, pretending to be absorbed in her potions notes. This way, when she called ahead that she left her textbook in the Great Hall, it was easy to turn and run back without looking suspicious.

Ellie didn't even give them the chance to offer to come along.

She called, "I'll meet you in the common room in five minutes!" over her shoulder, and took the corner so quickly that her black school shoes skidded and left little scuff marks on the stone floor.

Ellie was running so fast because she didn't have much time. Her excuse would only buy her a couple of minutes, and the journey that she needed to take required a lot more than a couple.

She said that she was running back to the Great Hall, but Ellie was really headed towards the second floor girl's bathroom.

Ellie didn't want anybody to know that she was secretly brewing and taking a dreamless sleep potion every night.

The thought of that man, Shadi, coming back terrified her.

Ryou, Yugi, and especially Malik's reactions to his intrusion on her dream scared her even than the dream itself. And it seemed as though none of the transfers could do anything to stop it. So Ellie had decided to take matters into her own hands.

In second year, their polyjuice potion had gone undiscovered in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. So Ellie figured that she would be even safer this time, since the dreamless sleep potion took only a few minutes to brew. She kept all of her unused supplies in a locked stall during the day.

Panting for breath, Ellie softly closed the bathroom door behind her and checked the time. She had about 10 minutes before her friends would begin to get suspicious. She ignored Myrtle's wails from her favorite toilet, and wiggled underneath the locked door of the stall with her supplies in it.

In no time at all, Ellie had a small fire cackling, and the potion was brewing.

As she added the different ingredients, Ellie was very glad indeed that her best subject was potions. Not only did it make her dream of becoming a healer a lot easier, but it allowed her to brew a perfect dreamless sleep potion every time.

She didn't know what she would do if she couldn't brew it herself. Go to Madam Pomfrey, she supposed. But she would most likely require an explanation, and Ellie was too ashamed for that.

She felt like such a coward.

Not only was Ellie running away from her fears, but she was hiding it from her friends. They were the ones that could help and support her through it, but she was selfishly denying them the chance.

Biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood, Ellie quickly poured the potion into three vials. She had enough to last her for three more days.

She waved her wand, and her cauldron was clean, the fire was out, and all of the supplies were neatly tucked away in her spare potions kit. Ellie stuffed the vials into her schoolbag, and wiggled back out from under the door.

Ellie reached the portrait hole with a couple of minutes to spare, and she took the time to dig her potions textbook out of her bag and catch her breath.

With a sigh, she climbed through and greeted her friends, feeling as though the potion in her backpack weighed a hundred pounds.

**XXX**

Malik couldn't take it anymore.

He already felt guilty as hell, wasn't that enough?

He never thought that he'd see the day where he wished some random girl would ask him out, or for people to stare at him solely because of his status as one of the top three Duel Monsters champions.

Was it too much to ask for people to not be afraid of him?

He was already afraid enough of himself.

Marik had gotten even stronger. Ever since he had exploded and jumped Mclaggen, Malik could even hear what he was thinking sometimes. Terrible thoughts: gory, violent, and completely obscene.

And knowing that Marik could hear _his_ thoughts as well made him shudder.

He was currently sitting next to an equally dejected Ryou in charms, and neither had said a word since the class began. They were supposed to be reading a chapter from their textbooks, but the rest of the class were chatting amongst themselves. Flitwick didn't seem to mind.

Malik kept his eyes firmly on his textbook, trying to ignore the stares and whispers.

Of course, word of the fight had spread quicker than wildfire. It was only two days after the DA meeting, and the entire student body knew. Fortunately, the DA members had twisted the facts enough so that everybody just assumed that this fight had taken place in some random corridor, so the secret of the DA was still safe.

But through the tangled web of what was true and what wasn't, Malik had heard from Neville, who had heard from Seamus, who had heard from some guy in Ravenclaw, that Mclaggen had claimed that Malik's eyes had glowed red when he had attacked him.

They associated this with Voldemort, so naturally everyone was terrified of him.

He didn't even know if his eyes _did _glow red.

Malik looked over at Ryou, who wasn't doing much better than he was. The poor guy hadn't uttered a full sentence in days, and had dark circles under his eyes. Malik knew that Ryou hadn't been sleeping well. He figured that he was too afraid of reliving whatever he saw when Bakura attacked him.

He felt a twinge of annoyance at Ryou. He needed to snap out of it! Couldn't he see that Bakura didn't _want _to hurt him? That _Malik_ needed his support right now?

Malik felt the sudden urge to hit him, to scream at him to get over it.

"So, I heard that he, like, tried to kill him. I mean, if those Wee- something twins weren't there he totally would have, too." Came the not so quiet voice of a Hufflepuff girl.

"I know! Did you see Cormac's face? He looked like he was hit by a hundred pound bludger!" Her friend replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder and eyeing him as if he couldn't hear her.

Malik raised his head, fixing his gaze on them. He glared, putting all of his hate into that one look. The girls let out small _eep_s before hastily relocating to a further table.

Malik snapped his quill in half, and clenched the edges of his desk with shaking hands. He felt that if he didn't get out of this place soon, he was going to _really _snap, and_ really_ hurt somebody.

And suddenly, leaving Hogwarts didn't seem like such a bad idea.

**XXX**

HARRY POV

Harry was sitting in an unfamiliar room, with an all-too-familiar serpent twining in and around his ankles. The covers on the windows were all drawn, creating a dank and chilly atmosphere.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," He called in a cold, high pitched voice.

"My Lord," Bellatrix praised. She rushed through the door and fell to her knees, kissing the hem of Harry's robes.

"Ah, Bellatrix. I see that you have returned much sooner than any of us expected. I trust that you have good news?"

"Master," She breathed, looking up with an expression of pure euphoria on her face. Harry beckoned for her to rise, and she did. "I found it."

"I am afraid that I have underestimated you, Bellatrix." Harry stood, towering over his most loyal servant. "How did you find them?"

Bellatrix giggled. "The Ishtar boy's older sister told me."

Harry felt a cruel rage build up in his chest. "I ordered you not to harm their families yet." He raised his wand to her heart, and instantly her bottom lip pushed out into a trembling pout.

"Master," She breathed, bowing slowly, never taking her dark eyes off of Harry's wand. "I would never dream of disobeying My Lord's orders."

Pleased, Harry lowered his wand.

"The girl speaks too freely of her past," Bellatrix explained, the fear leaving her eyes and the sadistic smile quickly returning to her face. "I merely had to wait and listen to find out where to find them."

"Where were they, Bellatrix?"

"Egypt." She breathed, pulling out a vial from her robes pocket. She kissed it, before presenting it to Harry with a flourish. "I've got the memory, My Lord."

Harry was beyond pleased. He took the memory, and poured the swirling white thoughts into the pensieve. There was no doubt in his mind that Bellatrix had tortured and maimed whoever's head this had come from, but Harry did not care. He knew that these people did not keep contact with the outside world, and their deeds would go undetected.

Harry immediately bowed into the pensieve, allowing him to be pulled into a cold tomb.

He saw a tall boy with primitive carvings of hieroglyphs on his face laying face down on the floor. He was being brutally whipped by an older man.

By the look of the boy's strange white garment, he had been whipped for awhile. It was ripped open and dripping in blood, allowing Harry to clearly see the wound. He felt a cruel smile color his features.

The whip snapped once more, and the boy cried out in pain.

Harry's attention was so fixated on the boy's screams of pain that he didn't even notice the boy in the doorway until he gasped. _"Rishid!"_

He looked up, and couldn't help but be shocked at what he saw. It was a much younger Malik. Innocence colored his horrified features, and he clutched at a brightly colored magazine page, featuring a man riding a motorcycle. It stood out in the drab room.

Who Harry now knew to be Rishid looked up. "Master Malik," he gasped, before collapsing. A girl ran in, and screamed at the scene in front of her.

The man with the whip turned around. He was panting. "Children. You knew the consequences of breaking the rules. This boy has taken his punishment because of _you."_

Harry saw Malik clutch at the sides of his head, gasping and moaning in what sounded like agony. The girl behind him clutched his shoulders. "Malik!"

"You're next, Malik." The man said, raising his whip.

But when Harry looked at Malik, he saw that a change had overcome the boy. A golden eye shone from his forehead, and there was an evil in his eyes that intrigued Harry. Anticipation filled him as he waited for what would happen next.

The man struck.

Malik didn't even flinch. He caught the whip with ease. He even managed to hold on when the much bigger man tried to pull it out of his grasp.

"Do you really want to resist me, Malik?" The man asked threateningly.

Malik looked into the man's eyes, and laughed. "Thank you for getting rid of Rishid for me." He pulled the whip, causing it to snap back at the man. He gasped in pain.

Malik stretched, and breathed in as though he was tasting oxygen for the first time. He walked over to a stone shelf, which held two golden items. He poised his hand over one. "The Rod is mine."

"No!" The man shouted. "You can't touch it! It's forbidden!"

Malik picked it up, and instantly the eye on his forehead glowed brighter, and the rod in his hand shone like a beacon in the darkness.

Malik chuckled again. "It accepts me."

"Put it back!"

"Shut up!" Malik shouted, holding the rod up towards the man. He instantly flew backwards into the wall with a loud thud, and screamed.

"Malik!" The girl shouted, running to his side. "Stop it!"

"You will obey me." Malik said, before using the rod to throw her back into the wall too.

"You're not Malik," she whimpered, before falling unconscious.

Malik turned back to the man. "I'll start with you, Father."

Harry actually felt shock. This man was the boy's father?

This was _perfect._

Malik twisted the end of the rod, unsheathing a dagger carved into the tip. He approached his father's immobilized body, and laughed again.

"Malik! Stop it!"

Malik struck.

Malik's father screamed in pain as he was stabbed by his own son. Over and over again.

As the memory continued, Harry didn't even want to think about what he saw next. He only knew that when the memory ended, he woke up with a start. He ran to the bathroom to be violently sick.

He wondered exactly _who _he was currently sharing a dorm with.

**XXX**

Lord Voldemort's maniacal laughter rang throughout the dark room.

The Dark Lord looked at his most faithful servant, the potential of this boy already plaguing his mind.

"Bring him to me, Bellatrix."

"Yes, My Lord." She bowed.

Lord Voldemort wanted the boy. He saw the evil being that was inside of him, and knew that he could use that to his advantage.

**XXX**

"We need to talk."

Ellie looked up from her Arithmancy essay, and shared an uneasy glance with Hermione. "Talk about what, Harry?"

She hadn't even noticed Harry and Ron stalking up to them. They were in the library with Malik and Yugi. Yugi was actually studying, while Malik was glaring over at a group of third years for reasons that were beyond Ellie. She was worried about him, he hadn't been himself at all since the Mclaggen incident. And she wasn't deaf, Ellie knew what the rest of the student body was saying about him.

Yugi had told them that Ryou had left for the boy's dormitory immediately after dinner. She didn't even know why he bothered to show up at all, as he couldn't have eaten more than a few bites of his plate. His lack of appetite coupled with the obvious fact that he hadn't been sleeping meant that he looked like hell lately. She was just as worried about him, but knew that there was nothing she could do but wait for him to make amends with Bakura.

Ellie noticed that Harry was eyeing Malik suspiciously. Knowing what was coming, Ellie figured that she would once again be caught between her new friends and her old. She bit her lip.

Noticing the stare he was receiving, Malik tore his gaze from the third years and glared right back at Harry. "Do you have something to say to me?" He asked, a slight threat underlying his tone.

Ron, Ellie noticed, looked positively terrified. He was eyeing Malik as though he was a particularly large spider, and was clutching at his wand with white knuckles. Ellie gulped.

"As of right now? No. We need to talk with _our _friends, and you're just in the way." Harry spat. "Now, come on."

Yugi frowned. "Friends usually don't speak to friends like that," he said before either of them had a chance to react.

As much as she hated to admit it, Ellie had to agree. She didn't move, and neither did Hermione.

"Please," Ron said, grabbing each of their arms and pulling insistently. "It's important."

"What's wrong, Ron?" Hermione asked gently, standing up and beginning to gather her things.

Ron just looked at Yugi and Malik, and shook his head.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Malik demanded, standing up.

"Ellie, _come on,_" Harry demanded, as Ellie had yet to stand up.

She sighed, and nodded reluctantly. She began gathering her things. Ellie didn't like the way that Harry was acting, but she knew that he wouldn't demand her attention in such a way unless it was important.

As she got up, Ellie noticed that Malik was staring incredulously at her. "What?" She asked.

"You're seriously going with them?" He asked. Ellie noticed, with a hint of fear, that his hands were shaking in fury.

"Yes," She said. "I am."

Ellie and Hermione followed Harry and Ron out of the library.

**XXX**

Ryou sat on his bed, staring at the top drawer of his bedside table. He had locked the Millennium Ring in there along with all his memoirs of Amane and the Millennium Eye. He held the key to the drawer in his hand, debating on whether or not he should just chuck it out the window.

He felt slight waves of annoyance emanating from his yami. Since the ring was in the drawer, they couldn't communicate as easily. But Ryou could still feel him.

He sighed.

Bakura had apologized a million times over, and didn't get why Ryou wasn't back to normal. He tried to hide his annoyance and impatience, but he couldn't keep it from Ryou. Even though Ryou wanted nothing to do with Bakura, he couldn't help the bond that connected them through thick and thin.

Ryou didn't know what to do. He may have heard him out, if it wasn't for that fact that he still couldn't help but flinch when he heard him speak. So every time that Bakura apologized, Ryou would hear his voice and associate it with the distorted version that had egged him on in the dream.

Ryou didn't know what scared him more: his yami actually attacking him and sending him to his own personal hell, or the knowledge that there was a completely merciless influence causing him to do so.

Way back when Ryou got the ring from his father, even before he knew that it was Bakura possessing him, Ryou was terrified of what was inside of him. One minute he would be a regular boy, playing with his friends, and then his memory eluded him. Now Ryou supposed that Bakura had emerged and beaten the poor children at shadow games. Because when he woke up, they would always be in comas.

It was even worse after Ryou learned of his existence. Bakura would taunt him, control him, lock him in his soul room and commit unspeakable acts with _Ryou's_ body, and even keep him from eating and drinking for days on end. He would torture him from the inside out, which was why Ryou was so afraid. Physical pain only lasted so long, but what Bakura did was _so _much worse.

All of this meant that Ryou could never let his guard down again. He had been so stupid to believe that his yami had overcome his own personal demons, that he had changed.

Never again, Ryou vowed.

A long time passed in which Ryou continued his staring contest with the drawer.

But, in the end, he couldn't resist the pull to his yami. Ryou unlocked the drawer and slipped the ring around his neck, laying back onto his bed. He soon fell into a reluctant, fitful sleep.

He never saw Bakura phase out. He reached out a translucent finger and attempted to brush Ryou's bangs back, sighing when his fingers sunk right through.

"Forgive me, Ryou."

**XXX**

"Harry, I really wish that you wouldn't be so rude to-"

"Hermione, I really don't want to hear you defend him right now!" He cut her off viciously, whirling around and stopping so fast that Ellie bumped right into him. "He's dangerous."

"Harry, we know he's dangerous. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't." Ellie protested.

"No. He's evil."

Ellie and Hermione shared a nervous glance.

"I had a dream where I was Voldemort again last night." Harry stated. "I saw something about Malik that I think you guys ought to know."

Ellie gulped. What did he see? Were they finally going to have to admit what they _really_ knew about the transfers?

It was like she told Bakura: no matter how much she liked the transfers, in the end, her allegiances lay with her friends. And that meant telling them the truth. No matter how much it hurt.

Harry began walking again, and led them to the third floor corridor, where Ellie knew the Room of Requirement lay. Did they really need this much privacy? Usually they held discussions about Voldemort in whispers in the common room. What did Harry know?

Ellie, Hermione and Ron allowed Harry to pace in silence. They were all lost in their own thoughts, Ellie supposed.

When the door finally appeared, he held it open for them. Ellie and Hermione walked through to find a small cozy room, with four armchairs arranged in a circle to face each other. It looked like a miniature version of the Gryffindor common room.

Ellie hesitantly took a seat. Hermione and Ron joined her, while Harry opted to stand behind his armchair as though it were a podium and he was about to make a speech.

"What did you see, Harry?" Ellie asked in a whisper.

"A memory." Harry replied. He looked thoughtful for a moment, but apparently decided not to beat around the bush. "I watched Malik kill his father."

Hermione gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth. Ellie felt herself go pale, and she gripped the arms of her chair.

"Wh-what?" Hermione asked through her fingers. "No. You must have made a mistake."

"It isn't a mistake, Hermione." Ron said gently.

Hermione continued shaking her head in wide eyed disbelief. Ellie couldn't even speak.

Was it Malik? Or was it his yami?

Ellie began to wonder if it really mattered. She felt disgusted that she even associated herself with Malik, and by association Yugi and Ryou. They must have known about this. They knew everything about each other.

"Malik picked up a golden rod, just like the one you described him having in the alley." Harry said. "He unsheathed the end, where it had a sharp tip, like a dagger. He stabbed his father to death, laughing the whole time." His eyes were closed, as if he was watching the scene on the back of his eyelids. Ellie wondered if she should give him some dreamless sleep potion. "You don't want to know what happened next."

Ellie's mouth was suddenly very dry. She couldn't even fathom what he did next, but Harry was right: she certainly did not want to know. She felt bad that Harry had to witness this.

"The rod . . ." Hermione said. "He's. . . killed with it?"

Harry nodded.

Ellie buried her face in her hands.

Malik was a killer?

"Ellie?" Ron asked.

She looked up, realizing for the first time that there were tears streaking down her face.

She couldn't believe that she had been hanging out with a killer the past few months. There was no way to know for sure whether it was Malik or his yami who had done it, but Ellie realized that she didn't even care about the circumstances. The point was that he was a bad person, because he didn't stop it.

They all were.

"I trusted them," She finally whispered, shaking her head and allowing the tears to flow. "All of them."

"So did I," Hermione said.

Ellie thought back to all the times when Malik's darker side had shone through, and fear stabbed her heart when she realized that he could have killed both her and her friends, too.

"I can't do this anymore." Hermione said.

"Neither can I."

**XXX**

"Where are they?" Malik demanded Yugi and Ryou. "It's past curfew. They should be back by now."

Ryou had actually joined the pair after they had unintentionally woken him up and begged him to help them with their divination homework. He was just as restless as Malik. They were both worried about where Harry and Ron had taken Ellie and Hermione to talk.

"Stop worrying," Yugi said, chuckling. "They're fine. Believe it or not, they had to take care of themselves way before we came along, Malik."

Malik scowled. "That's not what I meant."

"What do you think that Harry wanted to tell them?" Ryou asked in a voice raspy from disuse.

Malik shrugged. "Dunno. He seemed pissed though."

Malik was nervous for them to walk through the door. He felt that seeing Harry would cause him to snap again. And the common room was almost empty, meaning that there would be fewer witnesses.

For the second time that day, Malik wondered if Marik's newfound strength would subside if he were to leave Hogwarts.

They didn't talk for the next little bit as they finished their homework. More and more people got up and left for the dormitories as the time passed, so when the portrait hole finally opened to let in those that they were waiting for, the common room was completely empty.

Harry and Ron clambered through first, followed by the much more graceful girls. Malik actually cracked a smile at the difference.

Harry and Ron didn't even see the boys on the couch as they said their goodnights to the girls. For that, Malik was grateful. He had hoped to avoid a fight for at least one more night. They trekked on up the stairs, leaving Ellie and Hermione to stop dead in their tracks when they saw that the common room was not quite as empty as they thought.

"Hey, guys," Yugi said cheerily, not noticing their strange reactions to seeing them. "You were out late."

When they didn't answer, and instead remained frozen like a couple of deer caught in headlights, Malik noticed that they were both very pale. Ellie looked as though she had been crying.

"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly. "What did they say to you?"

Ryou's head snapped up, and Malik watched out of the corner of his eye as he took in Ellie's disheveled appearance. But he remained silent.

Hermione shook her head, and seemed to come to her senses before Ellie. "It isn't them," she muttered, grabbing Ellie's wrist and yanking her along. "We're going to bed. Goodnight."

"Where are you going?" Malik asked, standing up and taking a few steps towards them. "Don't you want to hang out with us for a little while?" He actually felt a little pathetic asking them this, but he was desperate for their company. He had had an awful day and just wanted to be with some genuinely _good_ and untainted people.

Hermione just shook her head again and continued pulling Ellie towards the stairs.

"You can tell us, you know." Yugi said to them. "Whatever is bothering you."

"Come on," Malik pressed, and then a sudden realization hit him. "It was that dick Mclaggen, wasn't it? He came after you because of what hap-"

"No!" Ellie snapped finally, stopping dead in her tracks. "It's not him!"

"Ellie, you can't," Hermione muttered anxiously, trying to pull her up the stairs and eyeing the boys in a way that Malik didn't like one bit. But Ellie wasn't having it. She didn't budge.

"Then what's wrong?" Malik asked gently.

"It's _you,_ Malik."

"What are you talking about?" Malik hadn't done anything to betray their trust since he had seen them last, and was very confused.

"You killed your father."

Malik felt as though he had just been kicked in the stomach. He felt like he would be sick. "H-how did you-"

"You let us think that _you_ were good, and that your yami was bad. But it's not him, it's you. _You're _the evil one." Tears were now streaming freely down Ellie's face, and she allowed Hermione to pull her up the stairs.

She looked back one more time to address Yugi and Ryou. "You all are."

**XXX**

It was 3am, and Malik hadn't slept a wink. He was sitting up in his bed with the curtains drawn around him.

None of the three boys had taken Ellie's accusation well, but Malik had certainly taken it the hardest.

He knew that he should never have gone to Hogwarts.

He knew that he should never have left home.

He buried his face in his hands, hating the tears that he felt there. Malik prided himself on being the guy that _never_ cries, but here he was. Crying.

At least nobody was awake to see it.

It wasn't just the fact that Ellie and Hermione wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. That they were afraid of him, that they had somehowfound out that his other half wasn't his own person, like Bakura and Yami. That they knew that Marik came from inside of _him._

It was so much more than that. It was the fact that _everyone_ at this school was afraid of him. Afraid of _Malik,_ not Marik.

And that Marik was _still_ getting stronger. Soon, he would be able to control him completely again.

This place was doing it. Marik was feeding off of Hogwarts' magic daily, getting stronger and stronger every single day that he was here.

He heard a maniacal laugh in his head when he thought this.

Malik knew that Marik would be able to break free of his confines soon. That he would kill mercilessly until either he was dead, or everybody Malik cared about was.

Ellie and Hermione were right to be afraid of him. Malik was afraid of himself.

He suddenly didn't blame Ryou anymore. For withdrawing so completely, and barely speaking a word to Ellie. Sometimes, leaving the ones you loved was the only way to protect them.

Which is exactly what Malik had to do.

He had to leave.

He quickly grabbed a few necessities, and stuffed them into a bag. But he left the Millennium Rod on top of his pillow. He knew that it was too dangerous for him to keep it. Yugi, Yami and Ryou would keep it safe and out of the hands of Voldemort.

Finally, Malik dressed warmly, knowing that he had a long walk ahead of him. He longed for the old Harley that he had spent so long repairing. It would make his journey so much easier, but it was out of his reach, all the way back in Domino. Malik knew he was headed home, but it would take him a long time to find an airport on foot to take him there.

He missed Isis and Rishid so much. They were the ones that could always drive Marik into submission. His family gave him the strength he needed to fight back.

He stuffed some pillows under his comforter and closed his curtains to hopefully convince his roommates that he was still in bed sleeping. That would buy him some time to get further away.

But, not wanting them to worry, he left a note explaining why he left next to the rod and covered it with his blankets. He wrote it in ancient Egyptian to make sure that it wasn't read by the wrong eyes.

Malik darted out of the dormitory. There was no longer any evidence that he had been crying, as all the tears had dried and his face had taken on a determined expression. He snuck to the statue that Ron had told him led to Hogsmeade a few weeks back, and made his way through the passageway.

Malik left Hogwarts with no issue. He met no one in Hogsmeade, and easily found a road that would lead him towards the next muggle town. It was as though the Gods made his journey easier because they wanted him to leave.

The cool air of the early morning hours almost made him smile. Given any other circumstances, Malik would have enjoyed the walk.

He had _no idea _that nestled deep inside his bag, were the Millennium Eye and Necklace.

Malik had no idea that he had snatched them from his friends. It happened in a rare moment where Marik had taken over without his knowledge.

Nor did he have any idea that he had just fallen straight into his yami's plans.

Marik wanted Malik to leave Hogwarts. He wanted him to leave the Rod behind.

It left Malik completely and utterly defenseless when four people in black robes and masks apparated onto the deserted road. They raised their wands, and Malik realized that the only things that he had to fight them with were his fists.

But those were next to useless in this world.

"Hello, Malik," the shortest one said. It was a woman. She ripped off her hood and her mask to reveal an unruly mane of dark curly hair, and a sadistic smile to rival even that of Marik and Bakura's.

Malik gulped, and she laughed.

"My name is Bellatrix, and my Master would very much like to meet you."

She fired a spell at him before he could even react, and Malik's world went black.

**XXX**

**Ah, poor Malik. Ellie and Hermione are quick to jump to conclusions in this chapter, no? And it's not as though their accusations are something that Malik would defend himself against. He feels that he **_**is **_**as bad of a person that they accuse him of.**

**The scene where Marik kills his dad? Yeah, if that sounds a little **_**too**_** familiar it's because I pretty much watched the scene in the sub and wrote it down. So I don't own one single part of it. Also, I implied that Marik skinned his father at the end like in the manga, but I didn't want to come right out and say it in the story. I don't think I could have described that without violating the T rating, and I wanted to be safe.**

**Speaking of that memory, I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but I kinda sort of maybe didn't make sense up there at one point. I had Bellatrix get the memory of Marik killing his father from a Tomb Keeper still living in Egypt. But, as we all know, there were no others present during this time. So that's kinda impossible.**

**I was hoping that no one would notice. But you guys are smarter than that, and I know that lots of you would spot it. And I suppose that you deserve an explanation. I just needed Voldemort to get that memory NOW, and it couldn't be from Isis or Rishid. So I cheated a little bit. Sue me. Because seamlessly writing crossovers is a damn hard job.**

**Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did! Any guesses for what Voldemort wants to do with Marik? I'm actually even more excited for that than this entire chapter. *squees***

**Let me know how you liked it, my lovelies! C:**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey guys!**

**Yet another exciting chapter ahead. And once again, not gonna delay you any further with my boring ANs. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Nothingnothingnothing!**

**On to the chapter!**

_**Just a reminder:**_

**Blah**** = transfers speaking Japanese**

_**Blah **_**= hikari/yami speak**

**Chapter 25**

Ellie didn't know what to think. She felt as though she was justified in both her anger and fear of the transfers, but she just couldn't shake the hurt look on all of their faces when she accused them of being evil.

Yugi had looked upset, but Ellie figured that it was more concern for Ryou and Malik that provoked his hurt. Ellie knew that even though he wasn't even close the sweet and innocent boy she had once believed him to be, he still cared for his friends immensely more than himself. She wondered how Yami had reacted.

Ryou's expression had fazed her slightly more. He had simply looked at the ground, and shrugged a little bit. It was almost although he _agreed_ when she called him evil. Which Ellie knew to be true, because with Bakura around he had to feel as though he were evil sometimes, if not always.

Malik's reaction was the worst, though. Ellie had expected rage, had even hoped for it. Anything would have been better than the way that his face had crumpled. He couldn't form a sentence, and he had looked utterly defeated. He hadn't even tried to defend himself.

But Ellie didn't regret it. She felt that even though they had all betrayed her and Hermione's trust, they deserved an explanation. Because they couldn't be friends anymore.

Ellie didn't want to think anymore. She downed the dreamless sleep potion that had been in her hand for hours now, and flipped over her damp pillow.

Her last thought before she fell asleep was to wonder if the transfers were mad. Would they come after her and her friends?

**XXX**

_Ryou, I am the evil one. _You _are anything but._

Ryou flinched at the voice, but otherwise ignored his yami and rolled over. His sleep had been riddled by nightmares, but at least he had managed to get some. It was his first uninterrupted sleep since he had woken up from Bakura's attack.

_Stop ignoring me! You can't keep running away from your problems._

Bakura was annoyed again, Ryou could tell. He was slightly worried that he would snap and attack him again, forcing him to relive _that_.

_I would never, Ryou. Not again._

Oops. Ryou had forgotten to block his thoughts.

_Then why did you do it in the first place, Koe? _Ryou finally demanded. It was the first time that he had intentionally spoken back to Bakura in days.

Bakura sighed, his annoyance fading only to be replaced by guilt._ Because Elizabeth was right. I am evil._

Ryou didn't answer because he knew that there was more to that, and he wanted Bakura to say it uninterrupted. He was also shocked that Bakura hadn't called Ellie 'Blondie', but her real name.

Bakura sighed again. _But not on purpose. I would never hurt you on purpose, Ryou. _He thought for a moment. _Or Elizabeth. I would never hurt her on purpose either._

_Even after what she said?_

Ryou felt waves of anger coming from his yami when he mentioned what Ellie had said to them the night before. _I'll do my best._

Ryou sighed into his pillow. _I miss her._

_I really am sorry, Ryou. The pharaoh is right, there is something manipulating me. I can feel it. But that's not an excuse. You are completely entitled to be angry with me. _He paused, thinking_. _Ryou had never heard his yami make such a speech, and was a little shocked._ I meant what I said: you are not evil. Regardless of what you saw when I attacked you._

_But Ellie-_

_No, Ryou. You saw what you feared the most. The guilt that you feel over it is what proves that you are not evil._

Ryou felt tears brimming in his eyes. _But she's so afraid of me. You heard what she said._

Bakura was silent for a very long time, so long that Ryou didn't think that he was going to answer. He couldn't even hear what he was thinking.

_Then prove her wrong, _he finally said, much to Ryou's surprise. _Show her that you are not evil. None of you are._

_I thought you didn't want me to have anything to do with her? Because we. . . you, uh. . . you know . . . _Ryou hadn't forgotten their conversation before Bakura had attacked him. It had been uncomfortable, and Ryou didn't want to bring it up again, but he was curious to know what had changed the spirit's mind.

Bakura chuckled. _I can handle myself, Ryou. I want you to be happy. _

Ryou couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Bakura was to completely lose control again, and go after Ellie. Because this time he would be able to. It was an immense stroke of luck for Ellie that their body was unconscious last time, otherwise . . .

_I will not let that happen. I promise._

Ryou felt as though an immense weight had just been lifted off of his chest. _Thank you, Koe._

There was a comfortable silence in which they were both left to their own thoughts. The dim light shining through the curtains brightened with the sun, and Ryou could hear his roommates beginning to stir in their beds.

_I am sorry about your Mother and Amane. _Bakura finally said, causing Ryou to flinch. _I know that you do not like to think about it, but I wanted to offer my condolences. _

Ryou couldn't bring himself to answer. He nodded stiffly, and immediately began scrambling for things to think about to avoid talking about his mother and sister.

He was incredibly worried for Malik. Ryou himself had been hit hard by Ellie's accusations, but he imagined that it must have been a thousand times worse for Malik. He was the one that she had addressed, and her entire accusation had been one hundred percent true. Malik _had_ killed his father.

Both Ryou and Yugi understood the circumstances, and had witnessed Malik's condemnation of Marik firsthand. It was easy for them to believe that Malik had changed, and he was now a good person.

But Ellie and Hermione? It didn't sound as though they knew the full story. Ryou had no idea how they had found out in the first place, though he suspected that it was Harry and Ron who had told them. Not many people knew about that, so there was definitely something fishy about the situation.

He rolled out of bed and dressed. Ryou knew that there was no way that he would be able to sleep in. He walked over to Malik's bed. He wanted to check on his friend, a task that he felt bad for neglecting the past week. Ryou knew what Malik was going through, but he had been too selfishly wrapped up in his own fears to focus on him.

Ryou quietly pulled back the curtains, and saw a lumpy form under the blanket that did not look like his friend.

"Malik?" He whispered, and pulled back the blanket.

There laid a pile of pillows, the Millennium Rod and a note. Ryou instantly felt the first taste of dread bubbling up in his throat as he unfolded the note.

_To Yugi and Ryou,_

_I don't want to bore you with a sappy goodbye note. But I figure you guys would worry if I just disappeared, so I suppose I sort of have to._

_I'm going home. I think you know why. _

_I'm leaving you the Rod. Marik's getting stronger, and I don't know how much longer I can hold him at bay. It's not safe for me to take it, and I would like to know that it's with someone I trust to keep it away from the bad guys._

_And for Ra's sake, don't follow me! We all know that this is for the best. I'll let you know when I get home. _

_Malik_

_P.S - Please take care of Kuma. But watch out: she bites. _

He gasped at what he read.

"Yugi! Malik's gone!"

"Huh?" Asked a groggy Yugi, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

"Malik's gone!" He repeated frantically, thrusting the Rod and the note that Malik had left in Yugi's face. "Look!"

Yugi read the note, his grogginess instantly disappearing and being replaced by genuine worry. "But, Voldemort-"

"Not here! Don't let on that he's gone." Ryou said, gesturing the their roommates, some of who were undoubtedly awake and trying to figure out why they were speaking Japanese.

Yugi nodded. "We need to talk to Dumbledore."

Ryou nodded and waited as Yugi quickly got dressed.

**XXX**

Harry woke to an excited Ron shaking his shoulders.

He had slept exceptionally well. He thanked Merlin that Ellie had offered to brew him a dreamless sleep potion, as he didn't think that he would be able to make it through the night without reliving that memory countless times.

He had also slept well with the knowledge that he had placed Imperturbable Charms that only he and Ron could break around their beds. The transfers weren't able to harm them while they were asleep. After what he saw he didn't trust them one bit.

"Harry! Wake up! This is our chance!" Ron was saying.

"What are you talking about?" Harry groaned as he reached over to his nightstand to grab his glasses. "What's our chance?"

"The dormitory's empty!" He said, yanking the covers off of Harry. "The transfers are gone! And Neville, Dean and Seamus are all at breakfast."

Harry realized what Ron was trying to say. He sat up excitedly. "We can search their things."

"Yeah!" Ron said, rushing over to Yugi's bed.

Harry jumped up. "Wait! Let me check the map!" He certainly didn't want the transfers walking in on them rummaging through their stuff. Merlin knows how they would react. Especially Malik. Harry shuddered again as he remembered what he had seen.

"Already did," Ron said gleefully. "Yugi and Ryou are in Dumbledore's office, and Malik isn't even in the castle! I reckon we have loads of time." Malik certainly was the one that Harry was most worried about being caught by, so that boosted his confidence.

"Where are Ellie and Hermione?" Harry asked suspiciously. He didn't really want them walking in on them, either. The girls wouldn't be angry with them if they found something of importance and told them about it later, but Harry knew they would stop them if they had the chance.

Ron shrugged, scanning the map. "They're in the library. Blimey, it's Sunday morning for Merlin's sake! Can't they give it a rest for one day?!"

Harry laughed. "That's fine, Ron. It gives us more time." He quickly joined Ron's side at Yugi's bed and helped him search.

They didn't find anything unusual in Yugi's things. Just a bunch of Duel Monsters cards, little golden stars, and a _lot _of muggle photographs portraying a bunch of different people.

Four of them kept appearing in most photographs, though. A short, elderly man that could only be Yugi's grandfather, a tall blonde boy with a cocky grin, another tall boy with brown hair, and a pretty brunette.

"Who do you reckon they are?" Harry asked Ron, waving one of the photographs in front of his face.

"Dunno," Ron replied, looking up from a Duel Monster's card and examining the photo. Harry suspected that Ron would love to learn how to play the game had it not been something that the transfers all loved so much. He would probably be really good at it, too. "Friends of his, I'd say."

They searched for a few more minutes, the only significant thing they found being a box containing a small stack of letters written in Japanese characters. Harry didn't know much about Japanese, but he definitely could tell that the handwriting belonged to a girl.

Ron sniggered when Harry pointed it out. "Reckon that it's the girl from the pictures?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. Let's move onto Malik's stuff."

Ron quickly rearranged Yugi's things so that it didn't look as though they had been looking through them, and joined Harry at Malik's trunk.

Their search there was equally as fruitless. There wasn't a single thing that was a cause for alarm. Malik didn't have one thing that wasn't necessary for Hogwarts, no photographs, no duel monsters cards, no muggle clothes, and certainly no threatening objects. The golden rod wasn't even there.

They quickly moved onto Ryou's things.

Ryou had lots of Duel Monsters cards, books and clothes lying around. But they didn't find anything out of the ordinary there, either.

Ron grunted in frustration. "Bloody hell, we didn't find a single bloody-"

"Wait," Harry interrupted. "We didn't check his night table." He pulled on the drawer, only to find that it was locked.

"_Alohomora,_" Ron pointed his wand at the drawer, which instantly sprang open. "Thank you, Hermione," he grinned.

The pair instantly dove into the drawer, pulling out a beautiful golden locket, a pair of cracked glasses, and a small box. Ron examined the locket while Harry opened the box and pulled out another stack of letters. Fortunately, these ones were written in English. Harry unfolded the one on top.

"Who's Amane?" Ron asked.

"Dunno," Harry replied. "Only one way to find out," he said, and began to read:

"_Dear Amane,_

_Hogwarts is everything I've dreamt of and more! You would love it here, it's amazing. It's this big giant castle surrounded by the most beautiful mountains, forests, and lakes. It's completely magical, and it reminds me of the games we used to play as kids. Do you remember, Amane?_

_The people here are great, too. I've made a few friends. Their names are Ellie, Hermione, Ron and Harry. _

_Ron and Harry were a little bit suspicious of us at first, but we talked it out and I think that they understand that we really don't mean them any harm. They still don't want us around much, but I think that we will be good friends soon. Ron is very funny, and I can tell that Harry treats his friends very well. _

_Hermione is _really_ smart. She reminds me a lot of Father, how she's always reading and studying. She's been a really good friend to us, and she's fun to hang around with when Yugi and Malik want to duel._

_And you will love Ellie, Amane. She's very kind, brave, smart and pretty. She helps me out a lot with homework, and always makes sure Yugi, Malik and I don't get lost in this big castle. She's been a great friend, too. She always includes us, even when Harry and Ron don't want us around. Everyone likes her and wants to be her friend. She is truly the nicest person that I have ever met. Even Bakura likes her, I think. He acts like he doesn't, but I know him well enough to tell that he really does, whether he knows it or not._

_Father is well. He sends me letters sometimes, but I think that he is still very sad. He is always working, and I don't get to see him very often. But that's okay, because my friends usually make me feel better._

_I should go now, Amane. I think that somebody is coming upstairs. I promise that I will write you soo. Don't you ever think that your big brother has forgotten about you. _

_Give my love to Mother._

_Love always,_

_Ryou"_

"Blimey," Ron said. "I didn't know that Ryou had a sister."

"I wonder where she is," Said Harry. Ron shrugged.

"And who is Bakura?" Ron sniggered. "Is he referring to himself? He must really be some nutter. . ."

"Hang on," Harry said. "He said that they don't mean us any harm. Do you reckon that that's true?"

Ron shrugged. "Couldn't tell you, Harry. They haven't done anything against us yet, have they?"

"Well, I suppose not . . ." Harry said thoughtfully. They had almost gotten into a fight, and Ryou had roughed Ellie up once, but they had explicitly said on many occasions that they did not want to be on bad terms. "But there was still that memory . . ."

Ron nodded, setting the locket aside and they dissolved into silence once more.

They rifled through more of the letters and read them. Harry noticed that Ryou talked about Ellie _a lot_ in the letters. It kind of worried him, it almost seemed as though Ryou were obsessed.

"Uh, Harry?" Ron finally said, interrupting his reading about how Ellie had shown Ryou around Hogsmeade.

"What?"

"Why haven't any of these letters been sent?"

Harry was gobsmacked. He couldn't believe that he hadn't questioned that before now. Here was a _huge_ stack of letters, almost one per day, and _none_ of them have been sent.

"Maybe . . . maybe she's in Japan? And the owls won't fly that far?" He speculated doubtfully.

"That can't be it," Ron said. "Because Yugi and Malik send letters there all the time, remember?"

Harry shrugged, and resumed his reading. But now that the question had been raised, it wouldn't stop bugging him. Where exactly was Amane?

"Bloody hell, Harry! Look at this!" Ron's voice cut him out of his thoughts. He was looking at a photograph.

Harry leaned over and gasped.

"Is that Ellie?!" Ron leaned in for a closer look.

It was not Ellie, Harry knew. But it certainly did look _exactly_ like her. It was quite unnerving, actually. The photograph portrayed a small girl with very unruly blonde curls, pale pale skin, glasses, and a smile that radiated happiness and innocence.

"No. . ." Harry said. He took the photo from Ron's hands and flipped it over. The handwriting on the back read '_Amane Bakura, 11 years old'_.

"_That's _Amane?" Ron yelped.

They were too wrapped up in the photograph to notice Ryou slipping through the door.

"_What the hell are you doing?!"_

**XXX**

"Ah, Misters Bakura and Muto. I must say, you are awake early." Professor Dumbledore smiled. "But by the looks of things, you are not merely here for a visit. Please make yourselves comfortable, boys." He gestured to a pair of chairs sitting in front of his desk, and they sat down, looking around.

Yugi was almost too worried about Malik to notice his surroundings. Almost.

Professor McGonagall had shown them how to get into the headmaster's office on their first week, for emergencies such as these. But they had never actually been inside. And the contents of the room were far too fascinating to ignore.

The large, circular room's walls were covered by dozens of paintings. Every occupant, Yugi noticed, appeared to be asleep. But Yami's perceptive eye told Yugi that many, if not all, seemed to only be pretending.

There were strange objects everywhere, covering the surface of many tables. Yugi had no idea what these objects could do, and was tempted to pick one up. Only the urgency of the situation made him restrain himself.

The sorting hat was sat high up on a shelf, as though it were sitting on a throne. Yugi waved to it, wondering if it would speak to him, but it did not move and he felt rather stupid for waving at a hat.

But the most interesting thing by far was the phoenix perched in front of him. Neither Yugi nor Yami had ever seen a real live one, and they were both amazed by her beauty. Yugi felt a small pang of sadness when he thought of how much Malik would love her, and he quickly brought his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Professor," he said. "Malik's gone."

Dumbledore didn't answer for a moment. Then, finally, "Gone?"

"Yes, sir." Ryou nodded. "He left during the night."

"Where did he go?"

"He left a note saying that he was going home," Yugi said hesitantly. "Will he be okay?"

"I should hope so." Dumbledore said. "You boys are all more than capable of taking care of yourselves, however-"

"No," Yami had phased out. "Malik left the Millennium Rod, which is the source of his power here."

At the mention of Malik actually being defenseless, Dumbledore's face took on an expression that was quite unnerving. Yugi instantly could see why he was such a respected _and_ feared wizard. "I will send out a search party at once." He walked over to the open window, and fired what looked like a silvery phoenix out of his wand.

"If Mr. Ishtar is still nearby, the Order will find them." He stated, resuming his seat behind his desk. "Mr. Muto, I need you to tell me why he left safety and such a powerful item behind."

Yugi hesitated. He knew that Dumbledore knew about Yami and Bakura, but Marik was a whole other story. Would he still want to save Malik if he found out what Ellie and Hermione had?

_Something tells me that he already knows, Aibou. _Yami said, sizing the man up as though he were an opponent in a particularly tricky duel.

_Then why is he asking, Yami?_

_I think that he wants to hear you say it. He is a forgiving man, I can tell. You should tell him, Yugi._

"Um," Yugi began. "Malik has a dark side as well, Professor. But he is different from Yami and Bakura."

"Different?"

Yugi hesitated again, and he was grateful when Yami stepped in to explain for him.

"He is a perverse mutation of Malik's rage. Malik has reached his breaking point one too many times, and with the help of the Shadows, Marik was formed."

"He's been a problem before," Ryou jumped in. Yugi noticed that he was acting a lot more like his normal self today, and he wondered if it was in light of the situation or, maybe he had made up with Bakura? "But Malik had confined him in his mind. He's been there ever since, but now . . ."

"I suspect that our magic has made him stronger?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir." Yugi lowered his gaze. "We should have told you before. But now it's too late."

"It is not, Mr. Muto." Dumbledore told him. "Now I must ask you to return to Gryffindor Tower. I have some business to attend to."

"Professor?"

"Not to worry, Mr. Bakura," his eyes twinkled as he took in Ryou's worried face. "I will notify you the moment I hear something."

"Thank you, sir."

**XXX**

When Malik awoke, he was blinded by the splitting headache that was pounding at his skull, and deafened by the murderous bellowing of Marik inside his head.

He flinched, somehow finding the presence of his nearly-freed yami comforting. He waited for the overwhelming sensations to subside so that he could take stock of his situation.

Malik was bound to a chair, and he found that he couldn't move an inch. The room that he was in was dark, almost pitch black. The only light was filtering in through the edges of the curtains, showing the dust that was floating around in the air. It looked as though it were a beautiful day outside, probably one of the last nice ones before winter came blowing in.

It smelled moldy. Malik suspected that this room wasn't used often.

"Ah, he's awake." A high voice came from Malik's immediate left. He couldn't turn his head enough to see it's owner, but it was just as well. The creepiest man Malik had ever seen stepped in his line of vision. "I have heard so much about you, Malik Ishtar."

The man was revolting. His skin was translucent, so white that it was almost gray. Malik could easily see the spidery veins on his bald scalp: they were the only indication that this man was even remotely human. He was tall and thin, dressed in black robes that looked to be too big for his body. But it was his face that disturbed Malik the most: his nose was flattened so that his nostrils were merely two long, thin slits. And his eyes were blood red. The very same blood red that Mclaggen claimed that Malik's own eyes had turned when he attacked him. . .

Malik knew exactly who this man was.

"I am Lord Voldemort," He grimaced in a way that looked like he was trying to smile. "But you can call me 'Master'."

"Like fucking _hell _I will!" He yelled, struggling against his bonds. "Let me go!"

At his sudden struggle, Lestrange and one of the men that had helped capture him stepped into his view. They both had their wands pointed straight at his heart.

"How dare you disrespect our Lord!?" Lestrange demanded. "Master, shall I teach him some manners?"

Voldemort chuckled. "That will not be necessary, Bella. I have other plans for him."

"Perhaps," said the man. "He can help us obtain the prophecy?"

"Lucius, you are blinded by your hate for Harry Potter." Voldemort said, still smiling and never taking his eyes off of the still struggling Malik. "I have much more important uses for this boy. But first, I need to be sure that it is true."

"Be sure of wha-AHH!" Malik yelped in surprise.

He suddenly felt a presence in his mind, one that wasn't Marik. It was similar to how he felt when Shadi used the Ankh on him. He knew that Voldemort was trying to read his mind.

Malik instantly pushed him out. He had far too many secrets, secrets that would be devastating if they were to fall into the wrong hands.

The pressure on his mental defenses got worse, and Malik found himself straining under it. But he did not give.

"Ah," Voldemort said, the sick smile vanishing from his face. "An occlumens."

Malik had no idea what an occlumens was, but he didn't give a damn at that point. "Get the hell out of my head!"

"You will learn," Voldemort hissed, seemingly angry now. "To respect your master. _Crucio!"_

Malik screamed. He didn't know that a simple _spell _could cause so much pain. It was worse than every hit he'd ever received in the Shadow Realm combined. He tried to thrash, but his bonds made that impossible.

Voldemort lifted his wand, and Malik panted for air.

The pressure on his mind returned, and Malik found that after this attack, his mental defenses were slightly weaker.

Bellatrix laughed.

"You might as well just give up now, boy. The Dark Lord will win in the end, you'll save yourself a lot of pain," the Death Eater named Lucius said.

Malik rolled his eyes. "Your funeral," he said nonchalantly. He hoped that his fear wouldn't show.

"_Crucio!"_

**XXX**

Ryou had left Yugi in the common room, saying that he was going to go upstairs and grab his homework. He needed _something_ to fill his time with while they waited for news of Malik.

But he froze when he walked through the door.

"_What the hell are you doing?"_ Bakura demanded. At the sight of Harry and Ron snooping through his hikari's private things, he has instantly taken over.

He felt Ryou's dread. It was like being hit with two bombs in one day for the poor boy, and Bakura wasn't going to let this slide.

_Let me talk to them, Koe._ Ryou said quietly. Bakura was shocked to see that he was willing to stick up for himself.

_No, I will handle this for you._ He didn't want Ryou to have to deal with these two imbeciles after what he'd been through in the past week.

_Please, Koe! _He pleaded, to Bakura's even greater surprise. _I want to make this better._

Bakura reluctantly relented, but he remained poised to take over.

"Who is Amane?" Harry asked. He looked determined, but Ron just looked pale, causing his freckles to stand out even more so than usual.

Harry stood, a photograph clutched in his hand. Bakura's heart sank when he realized _which _photograph it was. "Who is Amane?" He demanded again.

Ryou sighed, the confirmation that they had actually read the letters hitting him hard. But he stepped forwards confidently. He took the photograph out of Harry's hands and smiled sadly at it. "Amane is my sister." He said.

He didn't feel angry at all, Bakura noticed. Just sad and emotionally exhausted. That made Bakura want to take over and send these two fools to the Shadow Realm even more, but his hikari's determination was the only thing that was stopping him.

Harry nodded as though he had thought so.

"Where is she?" Ron asked. His voice was slightly higher than usual, but otherwise his face had returned to it's normal color when he realized that Ryou wasn't going to attack them.

Ryou hesitated for the first time. Bakura knew that he had a hard time accepting his mother and sister's deaths, and he avoided saying it out loud at all costs. He even spoke about them as though they were still alive, sometimes. Bakura gave him a gentle nudge. "She's dead."

Shame mixed with Ryou's sadness as the revelation of these letters hit Harry and Ron.

Ryou's letters to Amane were his biggest secret: not even Yugi or Malik knew. He would write them in the dead of night, or when the dormitory was empty. They were the only times that Ryou would allow himself to think of his sister and mother, and when he wrote the letters it was easy for him to pretend that they would receive them. It was his only way to cope.

Even before Bakura had realized that he truly cared about the boy, he had left him alone during these sessions. They have always been sacred to Ryou, and out of respect he had never brought them up, and tried not to think about them for his hikari's sake.

But Bakura could tell that Ryou was embarrassed that Harry and Ron had found them. He poured his heart into the letters, and they were for his eyes only.

"Dead?" Ron repeated. "Then why did you- ow!" He shut up when Harry hit him.

"Dead how?" Harry asked, slightly suspiciously. Bakura figured that he thought that Ryou had killed them, as Malik had killed his father.

"Car accident," Ryou whispered, looking down at the photograph once more.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments.

"I'm sorry," Harry finally said. When Ryou looked up, both he and Bakura could see that he truly meant it.

"Thank you." Ryou began picking up the letters and stacking them into the box. He kept the photo clutched firmly in his hand, though.

"Is that her?" Ron asked, holding out Amane's old locket and gesturing to the photograph.

Dread filled Bakura at this question. He knew that they had definitely noticed the similarities between his hikari's little sister and their friend, Elizabeth.

"Yes," Ryou said, possessively taking the locket back and clutching it with the photograph. "She was 11."

Thankfully, neither boy pointed out the connection. Bakura knew that Ryou was _now _aware of how alike the two girls were, but it took the nightmare of Amane turning into Ellie at the car crash for him to realize it.

It was yet another thing that he didn't like to think about.

Bakura noticed that Harry and Ron were exchanging a look, seemingly communicating something, but he neither knew nor cared what it was.

_Ryou?_

_I'm okay, Bakura. _He sighed._ But thanks._

"Is your mom, er, dead too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah." Ryou was gaining some confidence now. "I write those letters because I miss them. They were never supposed to be read by anyone else." His words could be taken as accusatory, but his tone was anything but.

"We're sorry that we went through your stuff," Ron said, averting his gaze with his ears flaming red. "We were just looking for, uh. . ."

"Evidence that I am evil?" Ryou asked.

"Sort of," Ron mumbled.

"Did you find any?"

"No," Harry and Ron both said.

"I don't think that you are," Harry continued. "I did, but not anymore." Ron nodded fervently in agreement.

Bakura thought that they had a hard time believing that anyone who wrote sad letters to their deceased mother and sister could be evil. And he agreed wholeheartedly.

Ryou felt a small trickle of hope, Bakura noticed. "You don't?" He asked.

They shamefully shook their heads.

Ryou carefully placed the box with all of the letters, and Amane's locket back in the drawer with her glasses. He closed it, not bothering to lock it this time.

"Neither are Malik and Yugi, you know." Ryou said.

"I don't think that Yugi is," Ron argued. "But Malik, well, you know . . ."

"That wasn't Ishtar." Bakura said, phasing out. He figured that it was high time to explain to these fools what was really going on. It was too much trouble to have to lie to them all the time, especially with them constantly snooping around. "At least, not the one you know."

Ron yelped, and Harry jumped back.

"Blimey!"

Not at all to Bakura's surprise, Ryou blushed. "This is Bakura," He said embarrassedly.

"Bloody hell! How are you doing that?!" Ron demanded with wide eyes.

"You know," Bakura stated, "Your girlfriends are a lot smarter than you fools."

"Er, what?" Harry asked.

"They figured it out months ago." Ryou actually laughed. "Ellie and Hermione, I mean."

"Figured _what _out?" Ron asked. "What _are _you, a ghost?!"

Bakura scowled at being asked such a ludicrous question. "Of course not. I am a spirit."

"Bloody hell," Ron said, heavily sitting down on the bed.

"You mean to tell me," Harry asked, sounding slightly angry, "That Ellie and Hermione knew?"

Bakura grinned. "Yep."

"It's not their fault," Ryou was quick to jump to their defense, regardless of what Ellie had said to them last night. Neither of them had forgotten. "We made them swear not to tell."

Harry still looked angry, but Ron looked incredibly intrigued. "Do Yugi and Malik have, er, spirits too?"

Ryou nodded. "Yugi has one. We call him Yami." They both braced themselves for the information that they would have to relay next. "And Malik's is . . . Different, though."

"That's who killed his father." Harry stated.

Ryou nodded. "It isn't his fault. They are very difficult to control."

Bakura snorted. _Difficult?_ Ryou made it sound like he could control him. _As if._

"Hang on," Harry said, the expression on his face making it look as though he had just realized something. He whirled on Bakura. "_You're _the one who took out those Death Eaters. And _you're_ the one who hurt Ellie."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Fool. You truly believed that my hikari was capable of such violent acts?"

"Bakura," Ryou said warningly. Bakura scowled, but he shut up none the less.

"H-hikari?" Ron asked, completely butchering the pronunciation.

"It means 'light'," Ryou replied, once again actually laughing. "Bakura is my yami. That means darkness."

"Ugh. I hate Japanese," Ron groaned.

"But," Harry said, ignoring Ron's complaints, "Doesn't that mean that all of you, especially Malik, are dangerous?"

Ryou shook his head. "Yugi's yami is actually quite stable. You don't have to worry about him at all." He then smiled warmly over at Bakura, who couldn't help but smile tentatively back. "Bakura here isn't as bad as he used to be. You should be fine as long as you don't make him mad."

"No promises," Bakura couldn't help but growl over at them, smirking when he saw Ron go slightly pale again.

"And Malik bound his yami awhile back, after he caused some . . . problems." Ryou said hesitantly. "But lately, we think that he's been getting stronger, which is why . . ."

"He beat Mclaggen to a bloody pulp?" Ron offered.

"Yeah. . ." Ryou bit his lip, knowing that he had to tell them that Malik left. "And the thing is . . ."

"Ishtar ran away." Bakura finished for him, quite bluntly.

"What?!" Harry yelped.

Ryou nodded gravely. "He reckons that his yami was about to break free. And he was upset because Ellie and Hermione found out about how his father-"

"No! Don't you see? Voldemort wants him! A lot. It isn't safe for him out there!"

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked worriedly.

"It didn't make sense before," Harry said anxiously getting up and rushing to the door. "But Voldemort wants his _yami! To set him free and give him a body! _And now he's out there, unprotected!"

The three boys gasped.

"Get Yugi," Ron said. "We need to talk to Dumbledore."

**XXX**

Malik's bonds had long since been released. There really was no point to them, anymore, as he was laying on the floor, so spent that he couldn't escape even if he had had the chance.

"_Crucio!"_

He had been being tortured for what seemed like hours on end, screaming and thrashing. It was all a blur to Malik, all he knew was that he desperately wanted to go home. To Isis and Rishid.

Once again, he felt the invasive poking at his mind. It was the only thing that Voldemort hadn't managed to do to him, break his defenses. Through all of the pain, Malik at least sought some pride in the fact that he hadn't given in. Yet.

"Wormtail," Voldemort called, "Bring in the cauldron."

"Yes, My Lord."

A short man that had joined them awhile ago bowed low and scuttled out of the room.

"Malik," Voldemort said to him, towering over his tortured body. "You have had your chance. I could have let you live." Through the haze of Malik's vision, he saw Voldemort shake his head, almost sadly. "But since you will not allow me access to your mind, I cannot be sure if I am correct. If I _am_ mistaken, you will die."

"Fuck . . . you," Malik managed.

Bellatrix spat on him.

Malik didn't even have the energy to wipe it off.

Voldemort merely laughed, and stepped aside as he was replaced by a massive black cauldron that was levitated in. A fire was quickly lit underneath it. Malik had no clue what was going on, and he didn't really think that he wanted to know.

"Bellatrix took a trip to Egypt, Malik," Voldemort said as multiple death eaters began dumping different substances into the cauldron. "She had the _pleasure_ of visiting your father's grave."

Malik wondered what the hell that had to do with anything, but didn't have the energy to voice his question.

"I'm sure that you're going to be fascinated to know what can be done with a few simple ingredients." Voldemort laughed cruelly, right before Malik felt his body be magically picked up and thrown into the boiling hot contents of the cauldron.

He screamed at the pain, bubbles spewing from his mouth. Malik surfaced, and desperately tried to climb out. He was hit with a spell from behind that rendered him completely immobile.

Something splashed in the cauldron next to him, and he heard Bellatrix's voice begin chanting behind him.

"_Bone of the father, unknowingly given . . ."_

**XXX**

**Dun duun daaaaah! Surprise! I can do cliffhangers, apparently!**

**Not much is said about this spell in GoF, but I'm guessing that if there are two beings in Malik's head then it can be used to create a body for the second. Why not?**

**So, do you guys have any idea if Voldie's plan will actually go through or not? Or if the Order get there in time to stop him and save Malik? Lemme know in a review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hey guys! I know that I took slightly longer than usual to post this, which shouldn't be a big deal, but since I left you with such a cliffy I felt mega bad. D: I'm not using university as an excuse, but I wanted to say (for future reference) that it does take a lot of my time, so please don't expect me to post as much as I did over the summer. Sorry!**

**Also, this is just a reminder that at the beginning of this chapter Ellie and Hermione are still completely oblivious to both Malik's departure and capture. The scene is just basically what they are doing in the library when Harry and Ron are having their little chat with Ryou.**

**Disclaimer: I'm too lazy to think of anything creative to say here, so I'll just stick with the usual 'I own nothing' and bore you to tears. So, I own nothing.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 26**

"Well, Harry said that he was _really_ horrid. That his father was about to go after him with a whip. Malik's other half was just defending himself," Hermione said reasonably, making a show of scratching out a sentence on Ellie's essay. "Is it really all that-"

"Hermione!" Ellie snapped, looking up from her book. They had both shown up at the library the minute it opened, needing to distract themselves with homework. "Don't try to _justify_ what he did!"

"I'm just saying that we don't know the whole-"

"I hardly think we need to!"

"Well I think that we do!" Hermione huffed, slamming Ellie's essay down. They were free to talk about anything, as the library was completely empty, save for Madame Pince who was on the other side of the room. "It's really no wonder they didn't tell us, with the way you reacted-"

"You're bloody terrified of them too, Hermione!" Ellie shot back. "You're blaming this whole mess on _me _just because I had the nerve to _say _something!"

"I'm not blaming it on you, Ellie!" Hermione squeaked, seemingly offended. "If you could just listen to me for five seconds without interrupting!"

Ellie lowered her gaze, flushing. "Sorry."

Hermione took a deep breath. "That's quite alright." Ellie remained silent and allowed Hermione to gather her thoughts. "What I was _trying_ to say is that we _know_ that it wasn't Malik who did it. It was his yami."

Ellie nodded, and signaled for Hermione to go on.

"And it's actually quite selfish of us to be upset over this."

Ellie opened her mouth to protest, but the look that Hermione shot her kept her silent.

"The boys were under no obligation to tell us, El." She folded her hands, and straightened up. "And like I said before, it's no wonder they _didn't_. They knew we would be upset and react that way. And we _did_."

"But Hermione, all of that aside, he _killed_ his father! Merlin knows what else they're capable of." Ellie shuddered. "I don't like the idea of being around them if that's the case."

"You don't know that it is the case, though, El." Hermione said patiently. "Remember when Bakura pushed you?" Ellie nodded. "Ryou had _no _recollection of that the next day."

Ellie was finally beginning to see reason, and she found herself feeling guilty for the things that she had said to the boys.

"What if Marik had completely pushed Malik aside, and he didn't have a single ounce of control over what happened?" Hermione continued. "I was up all night thinking about it, and I just feel absolutely awful now."

"But . . ." Ellie was grasping for straws now that she realized that she was very wrong the night before. She wanted some way to defend herself, but she couldn't find anything.

"Malik said it himself: Marik was locked away." Hermione pointed her quill at Ellie. "But you and I both knew that he's getting stronger. We knew that we had to be careful around him. It isn't as if they completely threw us to the wolves."

Ellie's mind wandered to the times when the three boys had protected both her and Hermione. She groaned, and remembered how she was beginning to trust them before this whole mess. "I feel wretched now."

Hermione nodded, pleased. "You should."

"An apology won't be nearly enough," Ellie said, frowning. She wondered if she could get away with sneaking over to Honeydukes to buy the boys apology gifts.

She wondered if they would still even want to be friends.

"Poor Malik." Hermione whispered.

Ellie nodded, and allowed her head to fall onto her arms. She was sure that what Harry had seen was _more _than a touchy subject for Malik. She couldn't even fathom the guilt that he must have felt over it, regardless of whether or not it was his yami that had actually committed the act. Last night Ellie had ripped open a fresh wound, and had cruelly hurt him more than she had ever thought possible.

But, going even further than that, Ellie had directly called out Yugi and Ryou as well. She had instantly believed them to be equally as evil as Marik, for the sole reason that they were associated with him.

Poor Ryou. He was already going through so much with Bakura, and Ellie had certainly made it worse.

She was absolutely disgusted with herself. She wished that she had listened to Hermione when she told her to stop talking the night before.

"You shouldn't feel guilty, Hermione," Ellie muttered into her arms bitterly. "You didn't say anything to them. It was all me."

Hermione shook her head. "I agreed, though. I believed every word that you said."

They both fell silent, and even though Ellie couldn't see, she heard the sounds of the library around her filling up. She figured that breakfast was over, and didn't even think about the fact that she hadn't eaten anything that morning.

Ellie finally sat up straight. "I'm afraid to apologize."

Hermione's brow furrowed. "You can't honestly believe that they're going to hurt-"

"No, no!" Ellie shook her head fervently. "It's not that. I'm just . . . ashamed."

And even though neither of them said it, they were both worried that the boys would want nothing to do with them anymore. Ellie bitterly thought that it would serve her right if they didn't, especially since they had decided that they didn't want to be friends with them last night.

"We should go and do it, though. Before it's too late," Hermione said, picking up her things.

Ellie nodded in agreement, and hoped that she didn't notice her gulp. "Okay," she said beginning to pack her things as well. The two quickly darted out of the library to begin their search for the boys.

**XXX**

"Professor!" Harry panted, barging right on into Professor Dumbledore's office. Ryou was quite shocked at his bold intrusion, but at the moment they had much more pressing concerns.

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, flattening a hand over her heart. "I trust that you have good reason to intrude on the headmaster's office in such a manner!"

Professors McGonagall and Snape were both in the room, looking as though they were having an important meeting with Professor Dumbledore.

"Potter's disregard for any authority is reason enough for his intrusion," Snape said coldly, and Harry gave him a nasty look but didn't challenge him.

"Professor," Harry repeated, pushing past Snape and leaning on Dumbledore's desk. "I think I know where Malik is."

"It's true, Professor," Yugi cut in. "It's important. Could we have some privacy?"

Dumbledore nodded, and looked at the two teachers. "Minerva, if you could occupy Dolores? I'm afraid that she is beginning to get suspicious." McGonagall nodded, and hurried out the door. "And Severus," Dumbledore gave Snape a meaningful look, to which Snape nodded curtly at and followed McGonagall.

"Now," Dumbledore stood up and waved his wand, conjuring up more chairs. "Please sit, boys."

They all hurriedly took their seats, and Dumbledore followed suit. The headmaster kept his gaze on his folded hands while Harry began to talk.

"Professor," He said impatiently. "I . . . I saw Voldemort again yesterday."

Ryou was too focused on what was happening to fully realize the implications of what Harry was saying, and in that moment neither he nor Bakura found it odd that Harry 'saw' Voldemort.

"He said that he wants Malik for his dark side, Professor," Harry continued. "I think that he wants to give him a body."

The reaction in Professor Dumbledore was instantaneous. He was up and on the other side of the room before Ryou even knew what had happened, and he shot another silvery phoenix out of his wand.

"Harry," he said, turning around and facing the boys. Ryou noticed that he, strangely, was not meeting Harry's eyes even though he was addressing him directly. "Are you absolutely certain that this is the case?"

"Yes! Professor, why aren't you looking at-"

"Then I am sure you boys understand the critical nature of the situation! I must ask you four to leave while I alert the Order. We must leave immediately."

Ryou was dumbfounded that Dumbledore was kicking them out, and was a little bit shocked that he hadn't requested Yugi and his own help.

"But, Professor," Ron argued. "How do you know where to go?"

"Ah, Mr. Weasley, you must forgive an old man for having his secrets," Dumbledore said without the hint of a smile.

"Please, sir," Yugi argued. "Take us with you."

Ryou nodded fervently, and Yami phased out. "We can be of great assistance, I assure you." He said.

Harry and Ron only did a slight double take when he phased out, Ryou noticed. They had never seen Yami before.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Muto," Dumbledore said, shaking his head gravely. "I must ask all of you boys to remain here while we retrieve your friend."

"But-" Ryou tried to argue.

"I trust that you can all find your way back to the Gryffindor Tower?" Dumbledore said, and before any of them could stop him, he turned and walked out of the room. Ryou immediately chased after him to try and argue some more, but, amazingly, the staircase was empty.

"Bloody hell, where'd he go?" Ron exclaimed. "There's no way he got out of there so fast."

"Dunno," Harry replied. "You can't disapparate inside of Hogwarts."

"Merlin," Ron shook his head exasperatedly, and if Ryou wasn't so worried about Malik he would have laughed. "Where's Hermione when you need her?"

"Where do you reckon Snape went?" Harry asked, ignoring Ron. "You don't suppose that that's how Dumbledore knows where to find Malik and Voldemort?"

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look, and then Harry laughed bitterly. "Snape used to be a Death Eater."

Ryou gasped.

"He's a double spy," he continued.

"Everyone thinks that Dumbledore is absolutely nutters for trusting him." Ron said, shrugging. "Me, I don't know whose side he's on. But I know one thing, though: he's a total git."

Ryou had to agree with that.

**XXX**

"_Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"_

Malik couldn't get over the pain of the boiling cauldron that he was immobilized in. With the splash of whatever Bellatrix had just added, the sparkling surface of it turned to a poisonous looking blue, spitting out sparks that seared his face. The bubbling liquid continued to burn his skin, and he was screaming every profanity he could think of.

Malik's body still ached from the hours of torture that Voldemort had inflicted on him. The Cruciatus Curse left no physical marks on him, but Malik felt as though he had just run a marathon.

Marik knew what was happening to him though, Malik could tell. He had no idea how he knew, but he could feel an absolutely euphoric joy seeping over from his yami. He was so happy that Malik felt his personality begin to separate from his own even further, almost as though their souls were ripping apart. He knew that anything that made Marik _that _happy could not be good.

On top of all that, Malik could feel a sick intrusion in his head. It was similar to when Voldemort had tried to get into his mind, but it was different, somehow. Deeper. Almost as though Voldemort was already _inside_ of his head, and was trying to get out.

Malik didn't know if he should resist that feeling, or give in to it.

He compromised by screaming some more in an effort to channel some of the pain he was feeling.

"_Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will renew your master!" _Bellatrix's voice carried on, followed by a scream that sounded like it was half pain, half ecstasy.

There was another splash in the cauldron behind Malik.

The potion went from the poisonous blue to a bright red that blinded Malik at such a close range. But he refused to close his eyes. Malik wanted to see what was happening to him.

He was glad that he kept his eyes open a few seconds later when Bellatrix walked into his view. Her face was alight with pure euphoria, but it was also pale and covered in a sheen of sweat. Her robes were colored with blood. She pulled a blade out of her pocket, and smiled wickedly at Malik.

"_Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe." _

Malik saw the blade coming for his face in slow motion, and when it made contact with his cheek he barely even felt the pain, because it was nothing compared to the burning of the cauldron that he was engulfed in. All he felt was the knife pressing into his skin and carving a slice from his cheekbone all the way down to his neck.

Blood gushed out of the wound, and it dripped down into the potion, which instantly turned to a pure and brilliant white.

Malik felt Marik's joy peak even further, and with it his body went numb. The aching, searing and burning that he'd been feeling instantly disappeared, and the white light coming from the potion blinded him. The sounds of his own screams, the bubbling of the potion, and the laughing of Bellatrix were drowned out by a ringing in his ears, and Malik felt as though he were dead, or at the very least dying.

The total cutoff of his senses should have scared him more, but he couldn't bring himself to focus on that because there was suddenly a splitting pain in his head, like someone had driven a chisel straight through his skull.

Malik felt his mouth open, and the rush of air leave his lips in a scream that could rival all the others that he had let out that day, but he still couldn't hear it.

The agony in his head was a million times worse than the pain that he had felt from the Cruciatus Curse, being tossed into a boiling cauldron, and Marik's joy all put together. He willed himself to die, if only to stop the pain.

Even through all of that, Malik's brain was barely able to process the fact that there was a pressure that was beginning to press against his skull. It, once again, felt as though there was something in his head that was trying to get out.

And the pressure grew and grew and grew until it was so tight that he felt his head was going to explode. It kept growing until Malik _knew _he couldn't take it anymore, and as it reached it's peak he finally dropped his mental defenses, and allowed the pressure to be released.

The weird numbness stopped.

Malik's vision returned along with his hearing and the feeling in his body. The potion was no longer searing his skin and amazingly, he noticed that there wasn't a single burn on his body.

He still ached from the hours of torture, and the gash on his cheek stung powerfully, making him think that it was deeper than he had originally thought. But that was okay. _Anything_ was better than what he had just gone through.

With the feeling back in his body, Malik realized that he could finally move again. He hadn't noticed a death eater removing the spell on him. He felt something move in the cauldron next to him, and he turned around to look at what it was.

He once again wished that he _had_ died a moment before.

He gasped, and backed to the edge of the cauldron, where he scrabbled over the edge and backed straight into the outstretched wands of a few masked death eaters.

"N-no, no, it can't be . . ." Malik stuttered, staring at his newly created yami with terrified eyes. "It's impossible."

Sickeningly, Marik's new body was completely unflawed. He did not bear the scars on his back from the inscriptions Malik's father had forced upon him, nor did he have the marks from the countless times that his father's whip had bit into his flesh. Marik's body resembled what Malik _would_ look like had he not been forced to bear the responsibilities of the Tomb Keepers.

Malik's evil half was now a whole, and was about to be unleashed upon the world.

Wormtail rushed forwards to pull some robes over Marik's form. Marik accepted his help, and climbed out of the cauldron. A few death eaters fell to their knees and trembled before him.

Marik finally fixed his attention on Malik. He smiled in the manic way that completely distorted his features, and Malik felt dizzy in fear.

"Hello, hikari." He said. "You will pay for what you did to me."

"Now, now," Voldemort said, stepping forwards. Malik was almost glad: he had forgotten about Voldemort, but would take him over Marik _any day. _"You may have your revenge, Ishtar. But first I want you to accept me as your master."

Marik regarded Voldemort for a moment, as though contemplating his offer. "No." He finally said. "I answer to no one."

Voldemort smiled cruelly again. "Ah, but Mr. Ishtar. I have a proposition that you simply cannot refuse. Bellatrix?"

Bellatrix stepped forward. She was still matted in blood, but she was no longer pale. Malik wondered what had caused the change briefly, but he was more concerned with his bag in her hand.

She reached into his bag, and Malik noticed that her hand was now white. He didn't dwell on that, though, as she then proceeded to pull out both the Millennium Eye and Necklace.

Malik gasped, and instantly the memory of Marik taking over quickly to grab the items flooded his mind. He couldn't believe that he had been _weak _enough to allow that to happen!

Malik felt his headache returning again, and he fell to his knees.

This _couldn't_ be happening.

It was his worst fears magnified tenfold, and Malik had been too stupid to see it coming.

The ringing in Malik's ears was back. But this time, he didn't think it was from the potion. He wished it was loud enough to drown out his yami's next words.

"I accept your offer."

The ringing got louder and louder, and Malik saw that bursts of color were blooming in front of his eyes, making it impossible to see.

He heard cracks, screams and explosions through the ringing in his ears, and didn't understand what was happening. Was his yami killing him?

"Malik?" A voice broke through the haze.

Malik realized that he was now laying on his back with his eyes closed, and he was wet with something warm and sticky.

"Malik!"

Malik summoned up the last of his energy to open his eyes, and what he saw made him want to cry in relief.

"Malik, it's alright. I'm here to take you back to Hogwarts." Professor Dumbledore said, and Malik passed out.

**XXX**

"Ron! Harry! Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" Hermione called as she and Ellie entered the common room. They had been searching for any of the boys for hours, and had had no luck.

Harry and Ron were sitting in front of the Gryffindor fire, doing nothing in particular, by the looks of it.

"Have you guys seen the transfers?" Ellie asked when they got closer. "We wanted to talk to them." She bit her lip nervously, wondering how they would react. Ellie knew how Harry and Ron still felt about them.

Harry and Ron looked at each other uncomfortably, and Ellie knew what was coming.

"Oh, come off it you two!" She argued miserably, plopping down into an armchair. "They're not going to hurt us. I know that now, and feel _absolutely _wretched for what I said to Malik last-"

"No!" Ron said. "No, it's not that." Ellie noticed that he was pale, and wondered what was wrong. "Hermione, you should sit down."

"Ronald," Hermione said slowly, listening to him and taking a seat. "Is everything alright?"

Ron broke her gaze, and looked at the floor. Ellie instantly knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, turning to him when Ron wouldn't answer.

He just shook his head.

"Oh, no!" Hermione gasped, jumping up. "It's the transfers, isn't it? Where are they?"

Ellie gasped too, and slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Yugi and Ryou are upstairs in the boys dormitory," Harry said quickly. Ellie felt a small shred of relief, but then realized that Malik wasn't included in that statement.

"Where's Malik?" She demanded, sliding to the edge of her seat and gripping the armrests.

Harry and Ron once again looked at each other, as though sizing each other up for who should deliver the bad news. Ellie wanted to scream in frustration at having to wait for an answer.

"He left." Harry finally said, quietly, and the guilt washed over Ellie like a tidal wave. "And Voldemort got him. We think that he wants to create a body for his yami."

Hermione let out another strangled gasp that sounded as though she couldn't breathe, and Ellie didn't move. The guilt was too much, because she instantly knew that it was her fault.

"Wh-when?" Hermione managed to ask.

Ron blew out a long breath. "Ryou reckons that he left sometime in the middle of the night. And Dumbledore himself left on a rescue party about an hour ago."

"D-do you think . . ." Ellie began to ask, but couldn't finish her sentence. Her head dropped, and she felt the tears begin to well in her eyes. "This is all our fault." She whispered quietly.

"Can we talk to them?" Hermione asked fiercely, and Ellie looked up.

"If you must," Ron said, waving at the staircase. "There's no one else up there."

Harry looked as though he was going to try and stop them, but then he sighed. "We'll wait down here."

Hermione didn't wait for Ellie, and shot off for the boys dorms. Ellie wiped her eyes and nervously hurried behind her.

Ellie didn't catch up with Hermione until they actually got to the dorm, and she ran into her back. Hermione was standing in the open doorway, observing Yugi and Ryou, who were both oblivious to her presence.

Yugi was standing in front of the window, looking down at the grounds. Ryou was sitting on his bed with his head in hands. They both looked over when Ellie entered though, because there was a brief scuffle when she slammed into Hermione.

"Hi," Hermione whispered nervously when they both righted themselves, and stepped inside the dormitory. Ellie came in behind her, shutting the door as she went.

Bakura immediately phased out and stared them down. "Foolish girls. You must be here to beg for my hikari's forgiveness."

Trust Bakura to break the tension, Ellie thought as she flushed and nodded meekly.

"Bakura . . ." Ryou scolded half-heartedly. Ellie noticed that they seemed to be on speaking terms again, but didn't dare say anything about it in case she made Bakura mad.

"I trust that you have heard the news?" Yami asked coldly, phasing out. He stood with his arms crossed and regarded the girls with an unreadable expression. Though he wasn't much taller than Ellie herself, he looked quite intimidating.

Ellie and Hermione both nodded again.

"Please," Ellie said, finally finding her voice and feeling her chin tremble. "I'm sorry. I take back everything I said. I was wrong."

Hermione nodded fervently beside her. "Me too."

None of the boys answered. Ellie sighed. "I know that it's way too late, and you probably hate me now, but-"

"We don't hate you," Ryou interrupted, shocking Ellie. "At least," He forced a laugh. "At least I don't."

Ellie felt her traitorous chin wobble again, and the next thing she knew she had burst into tears. "I'm so sorry!" She wailed, rushing forwards and burying her face into a very shocked Ryou's chest. "It's all my fault!" She felt him tentatively wrap his arms around her and pat her back soothingly as she sobbed into his shirtfront.

"It's okay," He said uncomfortably, squeezing her very tightly. "We forgive you." Ellie figured that he didn't have hysterical girls throwing themselves at him all the often. But regardless of the situation, she was glad he was back to normal.

"It is not your fault," Yami said from across the room.

"He was going to run away regardless," Yugi added, and this peaked Ellie's attention enough to cause her to look up.

"He was?" She asked, sniffling.

"Of course he was!" Bakura laughed from behind her, and Ellie turned as much as she could in Ryou's iron clad grip to look at him. "Marik was on the verge of busting free anyways. If it hadn't have been you, Elizabeth, it would have been someone else immediately after."

Ellie hiccupped, and wiped her eyes. "What did you call me?" She asked incredulously. He had never called her anything but 'Blondie'.

Bakura scowled and didn't answer her question.

"Look," Ryou said, and Ellie quickly forgot about Bakura and swiveled back around to face him. "Malik will be okay. Dumbledore himself went after him." He smiled reassuringly at her, and tentatively wiped the last of the tears from her face with the back of his hand. Ryou then must have just realized that he was still holding her tightly, because he blushed and let her go. Ellie reluctantly took a few steps back, taking off her glasses and rubbing the tears off of them. She was slightly embarrassed at her meltdown.

"But what about Marik?" Hermione asked. "If his father _is _dead then they have all the materials necessary to give him a body."

"What do you mean? How does the spell work?" Yugi asked.

Ellie shuddered. "It's very, _very _dark magic." She and Hermione had researched it when Harry had finally opened up about how Voldemort had been resurrected.

"You need a piece of whoever you need to resurrect," Hermione began. "We're not really sure how that works, but Malik himself would probably suffice."

Ellie saw Yugi pale at the implications of that.

"The potion itself is really complicated," Hermione continued. "Ellie understands it better than I do."

"You need flesh, bone, and blood to create a body." Ellie explained quietly, taking a seat on the nearest bed and avoiding everyone's eyes. "When Voldemort was resurrected, Wormtail cut off his own hand as a sacrifice, he dug up Voldemort's father's grave to get his bones, and he took Harry's blood."

"What will happen to Malik?" Yami asked her.

Ellie sucked in a breath and then blew it out while she thought. "I'm not positive, but I think that he should be okay. There were two people in his body, so Marik's consciousness should just be transferred to the new body while Malik stays in his own."

"What would happen if the spell was performed on someone who didn't have a second being sharing their body?" Yugi asked.

Ellie shrugged. "Their soul would be ripped in half, I guess. I don't know how that works, but they would probably die."

Yugi shuddered, and Yami moved closer to his hikari to provide him some comfort.

Hermione sat down next to her, and Ellie leaned on her friend's shoulder. "We really are sorry, you know," Ellie said sadly.

"And not just because of Malik," Hermione added hastily. "We wanted to apologize before we found out."

Yugi smiled at them. "I know. We forgive you."

There was a comfortable silence for a bit. Ellie's mind wandered to Malik. She wondered if Voldemort would succeed in extracting Marik and giving him a body. She shuddered at the thought, remembering what Harry had seen in the memory.

"What did you do to change Harry and Ron's minds?" Hermione's voice broke through the silence, surprising Ellie. She didn't think much of it during their conversation: but Hermione was right. Harry and Ron, who were usually so protective over their friends, allowed them to come upstairs. Something must have happened between them all to spark that change.

"Change their minds about what?" Yugi asked.

"About you guys," Hermione said, shifting uncomfortably. "They were even more . . . erm, afraid of you then we were."

"I told them about our yamis," Ryou said, leaning back against his nightstand and, Ellie noticed, avoiding all of their eyes. "They understood."

Ellie considered that. Possession was certainly a soft spot for both of them, as Ron had seen what Ginny was capable of in second year, and Harry was beginning to believe that Voldemort had a small level of control over him. It would certainly make sense that they would understand, but she didn't say so out loud. Ellie figured that Harry and Ron would share these things with the transfers on their own.

"Oh," Hermione said, rather thoughtfully. Her gaze met Ellie's, and they quickly looked away. She knew that Hermione was thinking the same thing as her.

But before the conversation could go any further, a very agitated Ron burst through the door, with an equally flustered Harry hot on his heels.

Ellie jumped up. "What's wrong?" She demanded.

"Dumbledore just sent word," Harry panted. "They got Malik back."

**XXX**

**I know that this chapter didn't explain things very well, but I'm saving it for the next chap. We'll have the big talk with the WHOLE gang. No more secrets! So tune in (hopefully) next week for that.**

**Technically, Malik is Marik's numero uno enemy, so naturally Bellatrix took his own blood for the whole 'blood of the foe' bit. Since it was Malik's POV, and he was understandably distracted, it didn't really make sense to put in a big spiel of that in the middle of the spell. (I think I might go into that in the big talk next chap, but if not I'll just tell you now xD )**

**Since Marik is becoming an even bigger character now, I wanted to ask you guys if you were cool with the whole Malik/Marik naming scheme. Is it too confusing? Because I know when **_**I **_**reread it, I don't always catch who is who and I have to go back to look. Especially when I go off about both of them in the same paragraph. And I'm the one who wrote it! Anyways, let me know. I'll look into calling Marik 'Mariku' or something from now on if it's a problem.**

**Thanks for reading, and remember that I always love to see your reviews! **


	27. Chapter 27

**Hiya! **

**Had lots and lots and lots of fun writing this chapter for y'all. There's a ton of Malik angst, and even some crazy Marik POV. I hope you like it!**

**At the end of the last chapter I asked you all if the Malik/Marik naming scheme was too confusing. And you all said that it was (for the most part) okay, so I'll stick with the same names for now.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing! . . . *sigh* **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 27**

"And what exactly did you plan on doing with me?" Marik said to the tall pale man with the red eyes.

When the nemesis had attacked and stolen his pathetic hikari from him this strange magician had defended both Marik and the Millennium Items. He took him to a house where there was a big long snake that talked to Marik. The snake told him good things about the tall pale man with the red eyes but Marik still did not trust him but he knew that he needed him so he would find out what he needed him for.

"I need you to show me how to use these items," the man said. "And in return, you may keep whichever one you wish."

Marik wanted all of the items. He really really wanted all of them but he wanted his hikari even more. He wanted to make his hikari hurt for what he did. He wanted revenge on his hikari. But his hikari was being protected by all of those other magicians with the wands who came for him just moments before Marik was about to get his sweet revenge.

"I want my hikari. I want my Malik," He said. "If you help me get him then we have a deal."

The tall pale man with the red eyes smiled in a way that made Marik wish his stupid hikari didn't keep the Millennium Rod because if Marik had it Marik could read his mind and know what he was thinking. Then he felt the tall pale man with the red eyes try to get into his mind but Marik was too strong for him and he resisted as hard as he could to show the tall pale man with the red eyes that he was stronger than him. The tall pale man with the red eyes looked angry with Marik and Marik thought that he was going to try to attack him but then he looked happy again so Marik stopped worrying.

"Ah, I should have known. You're an occlumens as well," he said to Marik and laughed. "I was merely trying to find out your name."

"My name is Marik."

The tall pale man with the red eyes smiled at Marik again but it was a mean smile so Marik knew that he could not trust him. "It is such a pleasure to meet you, Marik. You will call me Lord Voldemort." Marik did not like the way that Lord Voldemort was telling him what to do but he still had the Millennium Items so Marik could not fight back yet. "And we have a deal."

And then Lord Voldemort handed Marik the Millennium Necklace but Marik did not want the Millennium Necklace because it reminded him of his stupid hikari's sister and he did not want the Millennium Eye because it reminded him of the stupid Tomb Robber.

"No!" Marik shouted angrily at Lord Voldemort. But since he was holding the Millennium Necklace it made him finally able to control the shadows so he hit Lord Voldemort with them and he went flying. "I want the Millennium Ankh!"

Lord Voldemort looked really mad this time and he pulled out a wand and pointed it at Marik and some blue stuff came flying out of it at Marik but he gathered the Shadows together once more to block the blue stuff that Lord Voldemort had sent at him.

"I want the Millennium Ankh!" Marik shouted again but this time he did not attack Lord Voldemort with the Shadows he just waited for an answer.

"You mean to tell me," Lord Voldemort said and Marik knew that he was very very angry but he did not attack anymore. "That there is another item?"

Marik knew that the man named Shadi has the Millennium Ankh and the Pharaoh has the Millennium Puzzle and the Tomb Robber has the Millennium Ring and his stupid hikari has the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Scales went missing and now Lord Voldemort has the Millennium Eye and Marik has the Millennium Necklace.

"There are seven items, Lord Voldemort." Marik said to him.

"Three are at Hogwarts, and I have two," Lord Voldemort said to Marik and he did not look mad anymore he looked very happy. "Where are the others?"

"My hikari had the Millennium Scales but they went missing and Shadi has the Millennium Ankh." Marik said to Lord Voldemort who smiled and looked very happy again.

"And where can we find this man Shadi, Marik?"

**XXX**

Ellie and her friends arrived at the hospital wing in record time, panting and out of breath. They met Professor Dumbledore at the entrance.

"Professor!" Hermione panted. "How is-"

"He will be fine, Miss Granger," He smiled wearily at his pupils. "You may all see him, but please do not cause him any unnecessary distress."

"Professor," Ryou asked tentatively, "He didn't - I mean, did Voldemort manage . . . ?"

Dumbledore looked very grave. "I am afraid so, Mr. Bakura. Bellatrix Lestrange performed the ritual necessary to supply Marik with a body. We have good reason to believe that Marik and Lord Voldemort are working together."

Ellie gasped in horror. Voldemort having access to that kind of power was completely unthinkable: there was no way that he could be stopped now. They were doomed.

"We can stop them," Yugi said, quite determinedly. "Voldemort has Shadow Magic and wizard's magic, but so do we. If we work together we can take them down."

Ellie was shocked at his confidence, but not altogether convinced that he was right.

Professor Dumbledore smiled down at Yugi, looking quite proud indeed. "Very well put, Mr. Muto. I believe that you are right. Now," He stepped out of their way. "Please go to your friend. I think that he needs your company more that mine at the present time. I will come see you in one hour."

The group rushed through the door of the hospital wing, but paused when Dumbledore called after them.

"And Misters Bakura and Muto? I have asked Madame Pomfrey to give you all some privacy, in case your friends wanted to wish Mr. Ishtar a speedy recovery." He winked at them, and waved his wand at the doors, which promptly slammed shut.

"Very well," Yami said, quite happily, as he phased out. Bakura quickly followed suit, and the transparent yamis followed close behind their live counterparts to the hospital wing's only occupied bed, which had the curtains drawn around it.

Yugi was the first to reach the bed, and he peeked through the curtains while the rest of the group hung back.

Ellie was quite nervous to see Malik. She was terrified to see what condition he would be in after being in Voldemort's hands for so long. And what effect would the absence of his yami have on him? Would he be awake? Would he even want to see them? Would he want to see _her?_

Yugi's gasp broke through her thoughts, and he ripped the curtains open, revealing the cause of his gasp to every member of the group.

"Malik!" Ryou cried, being the first to rush to his friend's side. "Your face!"

Ellie clapped her hands over her mouth, and for the second time that day felt her chin trembled as tears began to spill out of her eyes. She couldn't look away from the grotesque cut that marked her friend's face from his cheek to his neck. And on top of that, he was so very pale and had bags under his eyes that made him look as though he were ten years older than he really was.

Malik was sitting up in his bed, propped against a couple of pillows. He was clad in the striped pajamas standard of the hospital wing. His hands were clasped together tightly, and his eyes were locked on them. He never once looked up when his friends walked in.

"Are you alright?" Yugi asked with wide eyes, standing on the opposite side of Malik's bed from Ryou. "What happened?"

Malik kept his gaze firmly on his hands, which Ellie noticed were white from the strain of clenching them so hard. "Where's my Rod?" He asked quietly.

"It's right here," Ryou said, quickly pulling the Millennium Rod out of his bag and setting it on Malik's lap. Ellie cringed at the sight of it, knowing that it had taken life. But in that moment she was there for her friend, and she tried her best to banish those thoughts from her mind. "Malik, are you -"

"Don't let him get it." Malik finally looked up at Ryou, and his eyes were wild. He looked completely crazy in that moment, which both scared Ellie and made her guilt intensify tenfolds. The tears spilling down her cheeks flowed faster, and she felt Ron place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't let who get it?" Ryou asked.

"Marik." Malik said, his hands suddenly shooting forwards and firmly grabbing Ryou's shirtfront and pulling him in. "Don't let him get my Rod."

"I won't, Malik," Ryou said uncomfortably, trying to get away.

"Let him go, Malik," Bakura said firmly, stepping up behind his hikari.

"Don't let him get my Rod!" Malik raised his voice, and shook Ryou violently. His aggressive actions shocked Ellie enough that she stopped crying.

Harry hurried towards them and pulled Ryou from Malik's grasp. "Malik, calm down! You're safe."

"Harry," Malik breathed, suddenly calming down. The manic glow in his eyes disappeared, and he simply looked very weary. "You don't have to be afraid of me anymore."

"What did Voldemort do to you, Malik?" Harry asked. "And why hasn't Madame Pomfrey healed that?" He pointed to the gash on Malik's face.

Malik shrugged. "Couldn't, I guess. She said something about snake venom-"

"Nagini did that?!" Harry demanded, gasping.

Malik thought about the question for a moment before answering. "I don't know who Nagini is, but Bellatrix did this with a knife." He picked up the Millennium Rod and began examining it, as though he had never seen it before.

"She must have infused the knife with venom so the wound wouldn't heal," Harry said incredulously.

That was completely barbaric, Ellie thought, but she was still too afraid to say anything. Dumbledore said not to cause him any additional distress, and Ellie was afraid that her mere presence would work Malik up, especially in his unstable state.

"That's going to scar, you know." Bakura said, sounding almost proud.

"I have some bad news," Malik stated casually, ignoring Bakura. He finally looked up, and locked his gaze on Hermione and Ellie. "You girls might want to sit down for this one."

His façade was terrible. He was trying to appear completely nonchalant about the whole thing, but it was obvious to everyone present that he was hurting, and bad.

Hermione frowned. "Malik," She said. "We know about Marik."

"I KNOW! Ra, can't you just listen to me?!" He suddenly exploded at Hermione, causing her to step back. "I'm trying to help you! Now sit down!" He shouted, pointing at a couple of chairs next to his bed.

Ellie eyed the way that he was holding the Rod, and decided that it was in all of their best interests to listen to him in that moment. She pulled a reluctant Hermione closer to the deranged Malik and they both took the seats that he had gestured to a moment before.

"Malik . . ." Ryou began, but Malik cut him off.

"It's okay! Thank you," He nodded to the girls, suddenly calm and seemingly content. "Now I think that it's best to start by telling you that this is utterly and completely not my fault. Marik did it."

At first Ellie thought he was joking. But the look on his face said that he was anything but, and Ellie's jaw dropped. He had always felt so guilty and ashamed of Marik's actions, but here he was openly stating that he had nothing to do with whatever he was about to tell them. What in Merlin's name was wrong with him?

"N-not your fault?" Ryou repeated, apparently just as shocked as Ellie was.

Malik shook his head frantically, eyes wide. "No. No way. Please listen to me. I had nothing to do with it." He held up his hands and spread his fingers, looking very desperate for someone to believe him.

"We believe you, Malik." Ellie finally spoke up. "Marik did it. It's all his fault."

Malik nodded happily. "Yes. Don't be afraid of _me. _It was _Marik_." He then held up the Rod, as if showing off a new toy. "He took the Eye and the Necklace. Now he and Voldemort have them."

Yugi, Ryou and Yami all gasped, while Bakura let out a string of profanities. Ellie and Hermione exchanged a frantic glance, remembering Bill's letter. It had mentioned rumors of a Millennium Eye . . . could Voldemort and Marik have gotten ahold of it?

"The eye and the necklace? What are those?" Ron asked. Ellie and Hermione both shifted uncomfortably, thinking that they already had a pretty good idea of what they were.

Yugi sighed. "I suppose that we have a lot of explaining to do."

Bakura snorted. "Yeah. No secrets now that your enemies have access to our power. Ra forbid that anyone fight an unfair battle, right Pharaoh?" He rolled his eyes.

"Thief, now is not the time." Yami glared at Bakura.

"Pharaoh?" Ron asked excitedly. "Does this have anything to do with Egypt? Cause in third year my family-"

"Won 700 galleons from the Daily Prophet and went to visit Bill in Egypt." Harry, Hermione and Ellie all finished for him, rolling their eyes.

Ron looked defensive. "Well, we did."

"Go on, Yugi," Yami said, looking annoyed at the interruptions.

Yugi looked nervously at Malik, to see if he was going to be stable enough to hear the story which had affected all of their lives so much. "It all started a few years ago when my Grandpa gave me the Millennium Puzzle." He pulled it out of his robes, and held it up for all to see. "That's when it all began . . ."

**XXX**

In the depths of his cavernous soul room, Shadi felt a foreboding sense of dread wash over him. He stopped his meticulous planning for the girl, and looked at the Millennium Scales. They were such an important part of his plan.

Shadi was by no means a psychic, but his duty as the Keeper of the Ankh provided him with much insight towards all happenings with the Millennium Items. And something was very wrong.

The pupils in his eyes dilated as he clutched at the Millennium Ankh, and he now knew that all of his painstaking work preparing the girl was for nothing. It was too late, they were coming for him.

Her trial was over before it had even started. Shadi knew that she was nowhere near ready, but there was nothing that he could do.

He had to move. Now.

**XXX**

"Bloody hell," Ron said, shaking his head in amazement. "I didn't know that some _game_ was capable of causing so much- OUCH!"

Hermione quickly snatched her hand back from where it had smacked Ron upside the head.

Ellie was just as shocked as Ron. It was unbelievable, the power that the transfers were capable of unleashing! Not only had they told them about the Millennium Items and where the yamis came from, but Ellie had never realized that the game Duel Monsters played such a significant role. She and Hermione had already figured out that the monster that Bakura had summoned to fend off the Death Eaters back in the summer was a Duel Monster, but they were flabbergasted to find out that the boys could summon any Duel Monster they pleased. She very much wanted to see their power, but she didn't dare ask now because it wasn't likely that Malik could handle it in his state.

Yami frowned deeply. "It is not just 'some game', Ronald. It has roots which would make even the founding of this school seem insignificant."

It was Hermione's turn to look offended. "Oh, Yami, I don't think that that's true. If you would just read 'Hogwarts, A History' I'm sure that you would see-"

"I think," Harry interrupted loudly. "That we can discuss that later. What's important now is the fact that Voldemort has access to two of the Millennium Items!"

"Your scar's hurting again, isn't it Harry?" Ellie asked. He always got agitated when Voldemort was happy.

"Of course it's hurting!" Harry snapped at her. "I haven't felt him this cheerful since Lestrange broke out of Azkaban."

"What did you just say?" Bakura demanded, after sharing a look with Ryou.

"I said that my scar hurts?"

"No," Bakura replied, getting right in Harry's face and pointing a finger at him. "You said that you can feel when Voldemort's happy."

Ellie had completely forgotten that the transfers didn't know a thing about Harry and Voldemort's connection.

"Er, right," Harry said uncomfortably, looking at his friends for help. "I suppose that I haven't told you lot about that yet, have I?"

"Is Voldemort your yami, Harry?" Malik asked, speaking for the first time in awhile.

Harry shook his head. "No, Malik. We just have a connection." He sighed, and rubbed at his scar. "I dunno how it works, or even if it goes both ways, but I usually feel when he's especially happy or angry. Sometimes I even have visions."

"Is that how you all knew that Marik killed my father?" Malik asked, once again without a hint of shame or guilt.

But Harry, Ron, Ellie and Hermione were all ashamed, though. They nodded their heads, eyes downcast.

"Malik," Ellie stood up and tentatively approached his bedside. "You know that we're sorry, right?"

Malik clutched the Rod to his chest defensively as she got closer, and looked very threatened at her proximity, so she stopped about a foot away from the bed. He nodded with wide eyes.

"I'm not Marik," He said.

Ellie shook her head. "No, you're not. I'm sorry that I mixed you up and said those things to you."

"We don't believe them anymore." Hermione piped in, standing up from her chair and joining Harry at the foot of Malik's bed.

"None of us do, mate," Ron added, flushing again and stepping up to stand next to Ellie.

Malik smiled slightly and relaxed his defensive posture, but then looked at Harry and frowned. "Even you?"

Harry looked slightly put out at being put on the spot like that, but Ellie believed that Harry knew deep down that none of the transfers were evil.

Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Malik's face broke into a full on grin, and Ellie's heart swelled to see him look so happy after all that he had been through. She felt her eyes well up once again, and quickly wiped the moisture away.

"Are you crying _again_?!" Bakura asked her exasperatedly.

"No," She said unconvincingly, sniffling. She crossed her arms defensively across her chest. Bakura laughed at her, but it wasn't a mean laugh.

Hermione, Ellie was relieved to see, was equally as choked up as she was.

Ron thumped Ellie hard on the back in what was presumably a comforting gesture, but only resulted in her lurching forwards. "Girls," He said, grabbing her shoulders and yanking her up before she could fall, all while rolling his eyes. The boys all laughed while Ellie and Hermione scowled at them.

It was in this moment that Professor Dumbledore strode into the hospital wing. At his presence, Malik immediately straightened up.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Ishtar?" He asked as he approached the group.

"Better," Malik mumbled.

"I offer my sincerest apologies, but I must ask you to tell me exactly what happened to you in the past 24 hours, Mr. Ishtar." Dumbledore said, and Malik paled. "Your friends may remain, if you wish."

Malik nodded fervently. "I want them to stay."

"Professor, I don't think that Malik is ready to discuss what happened," Yugi said. Ellie agreed wholeheartedly. It was obvious that Malik wasn't nearly back to his usual self, and she thought that he should at least get a good night's sleep before he had to relive his trauma.

"I wish that that were an option, Mr. Muto," Dumbledore said gravely. "But I'm afraid to say that the Order needs this information immediately. We cannot afford to wait."

Malik sucked in a great gasp of air, then exhaled it loudly. "I can talk about it. Don't worry, Yugi."

Yugi looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded nonetheless.

"I left because Marik was about to break loose, and I knew that he would hurt people," Malik began. "I left in the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep. But Marik took over for a minute, just long enough to take the Millennium Eye and Necklace. I didn't know I had them. And I left the Rod behind because I didn't want Marik to have access to it if he were to take over for good.

"I left through Hogsmeade. I was intending on going home, because my brother and sister could have helped me restrain Marik." His gaze returned to his hands again, and Ellie thought that he was going to cry. She took a step forward and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and noticed that he didn't shrink away from her this time.

"But Lestrange and a bunch of other Death Eaters attacked me, and I didn't even know that I could have fought back." He sighed, this time sounding very angry with himself. "If I could have fought back, this never would have happened!"

Ellie quickly retracted her hand from his shoulder and took a step back, once again suspecting Malik to be on the verge of a meltdown.

He clutched the Rod with a grip so tight that his whole body shook. His face contorted with rage, and a vase on his bedside shattered, spraying Yugi with broken bits of glass.

Ellie felt hands on her shoulders, and the next thing she knew Ryou had pulled her behind him and he approached Malik's right side and wrestled the Rod out of Malik's hands. As soon as it left his grasp Malik's rage disappeared, to be replaced with a very pained expression.

"Don't let my yami get that, Ryou." Malik said.

"I won't. Don't worry." Ryou replied.

Professor Dumbledore didn't even skip a beat. "Can you continue with the story, Malik? What happened when the death eaters captured you?"

Malik's face returned to normal as he carried on as though nothing had happened. "They knocked me out with some spell," He shrugged to indicate that he had no idea which spell it was. "And when I woke up I was in this dark room. Voldemort was there." Malik looked angry again, but this time he didn't act on it. "He wanted me to call him 'Master'."

Dumbledore nodded. "I expect he wanted to see if you would willingly submit to him before he had to draw out Marik. Please, continue."

"One of the death eaters there said something about getting a prophecy," Malik said, and Ellie instantly remembered how Malfoy and Lestrange were discussing a prophecy in Knockturn Alley. "But Voldemort said that he was blinded by his hate for you." He nodded at Harry.

"Could it be the same prophecy that we heard them talking about in Knockturn Alley?" Hermione asked Dumbledore excitedly. But Dumbledore just shook his head and gestured to Malik, who looked anxious to finish his story. "Sorry," Hermione mumbled.

"Then Voldemort tried to get inside my head." Malik puffed up a bit, as though he were proud. "But I didn't let him."

"I expect that he didn't like that," Ryou commented. "Did he?"

"No," Malik said, frowning again. "He used the Cruciatus Curse on me when I told him to fuck off."

Everyone gasped at both Malik's language in front of Dumbledore, and the fact that he had just confirmed that he had been tortured. Dumbledore just gravely waved off his language.

"They tortured me for a long long time," Malik said, not noticing what had just happened. He looked quite distracted, as though he was reliving his torture instead of just talking about it. Ellie wanted to approach him again to comfort him again, but Ryou stood between her and Malik. She bit her lip instead, and focused on not bursting into tears again. Poor Malik.

"It got harder to resist him trying to get into my head, but I never let him in. He kept saying that if I would just let him in, then the pain would stop. But I couldn't!" He shook his head desperately. "If he got into my head then he would have known everything!" Malik looked down again. "I suppose it doesn't really matter now, though, does it? He's got Marik. Marik will tell him everything."

"It's alright, Malik," Hermione said. "We'll stop them."

Hermione didn't sound as though she were all too convinced of that herself, but Malik seemed consoled.

"Thanks, Hermione," He beamed. Ellie couldn't keep up with his mood swings.

"What happened next, Malik?" Yami asked.

Malik frowned. "He said that if he was wrong, then I would die. What did he mean by that, Professor?"

"I suspect that Lord Voldemort was worried that he would kill you." Dumbledore frowned deeply, and for once he looked a lot older than usual. "It there was not another being inside your head at the time, you would have died. And that would have meant that he would not have you for his own needs anymore."

"Oh," Malik said, clearly not liking that answer. But he just quickly carried on with his story. "Then they brought in a big cauldron, and threw me in." He shrugged. "That hurt, too."

"Oh, Malik," Ellie said softly, shaking her head.

"I think that they dug up my father's grave," Malik went on. "Because Lestrange started raving about his bones."

Everyone knew this to be true, and that the bones would have actually been _in_ the cauldron with him, but Malik did not need confirmation of that in his present state.

"Then Lestrange cut off her hand, I think, and chucked it in." Malik looked disgusted. "A little extreme, if you ask me."

Ellie quickly looked over at Harry to see how he was doing listening to Malik describe this process. She knew that he still frequently dreamt about the graveyard where Voldemort was resurrected. He looked pale, but otherwise gave no sign of how he felt.

"And then she did this," Malik pointed at the cut on his face.

"Curious," Dumbledore interrupted. "They used your own blood to revive your yami. Very curious."

"Isn't it supposed to be blood of the enemy, or something?" Ron asked.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley. Peter Pettigrew used Harry's blood in Voldemort's own resurrection. It is very interesting that they believed that Malik would be, in effect, his own worst enemy."

"But, sir," Ellie interjected. "Voldemort used Harry's blood to make him stronger, because now he can touch him without getting hurt. Marik won't be any stronger from taking Malik's blood, would he?"

"That is an excellent question, Miss Milton." Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "We shall have to wait and see. Now, Mr. Ishtar, is this when your yami came to have his own body?"

Malik first nodded, and then quickly shook his head. "He did, but I went all numb first. I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything! And there was this horrible pressure in my head. I think that it was Malik trying to get out. I tried to resist, but he was too strong for me." He looked sadly over at the Rod in Ryou's hands. "When I let go, the numbness left. And then Marik was in the cauldron with me."

Malik paused, and nobody said anything. The tension in the room was so high that Ellie could have heard a pin drop from the other side of the hospital wing.

"He said that he was going to punish me for locking him away." Malik's lip quivered. "But then Voldemort interrupted him, saying that he could only have me if he accepted Voldemort as his master."

Malik sighed heavily. "And Marik accepted. I passed out then, and I suppose that's when the order came to rescue me."

"There is a chance that Lord Voldemort will not be able to use either the Millennium Eye or the Millennium Necklace, thank Ra," Yami said.

"You don't know that for sure, Yami," Ryou said. "And even if he can't, I'm sure that they will be able to find a death eater that can."

"And Merlin knows where the Scales have ended up," Ron pointed out.

"What if Marik teaches Lord Voldemort how to duel and engage in Shadow Games?" Yugi squeaked. "Professor, you need to let us teach the Order how to duel, otherwise they will be defenseless!"

"Not to worry, Mr. Muto. The same thought had already occurred to me, and I was going to contact your Grandfather and enlist him as a teacher."

"That's a great idea!" Ryou said.

Yugi bit his lip anxiously. "Will he be safe?"

"I assure you, Mr. Muto, no harm whatsoever will come to your Grandfather. He will remain safely at Headquarters with Sirius."

Harry perked up. "Sirius could use the company, Yug."

Yugi nodded slowly. "His English isn't the best, but I'm sure that he would love to help."

"Thank you, Mr. Muto. I shall contact him immediately." Dumbledore said, and then frowned. "Ah, Mr. Muto and Mr. Bakura," he nodded at the yamis, "I think that it would certainly be in your best interests to disappear now. Madame Pomfrey is on her way, and she will not react well to two spirits visiting her patient."

Yami and Bakura took his advice, and instantly disappeared from view.

"I wish you a speedy recovery, Mr. Ishtar," He pulled out a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and tossed them to Malik. "Beware, though, you would not do well to come across an unpleasant flavor. Goodnight." He turned around and walked out of the hospital wing, presumably to go contact Yugi's grandfather.

Malik eyed the sweets as though they would bite him, while Madame Pomfrey exited her office right on cue and began drawing the curtains.

"They _mean _every flavor, mate," Ron said. "Dumbledore's right: be careful which ones you eat."

"Curfew's in half an hour!" Madame Pomfrey barked at them as she bustled over with a tray full of potions for Malik to take. Ryou hastily shoved the Rod down his shirt. "Mr. Ishtar needs his rest." She returned to her office.

"Ugh," Malik said, eyeing the potions. "I think that I would rather test my luck with the beans." He shoved the potions away and started digging around in the sweet box.

"Malik!" Ellie scolded. "Take your potions! You're not going to get better unless you do."

"But I don't want to." Malik said.

"Well I'm sorry to tell you that that isn't how it works!" Hermione joined in, hurrying closer and shoving a particularly nasty looking potion into his hand. "Go on, drink up."

Malik scowled at having the girls gang up on him, but knocked it back in one gulp anyways. He made an awful face. Ellie followed suit, and picked up the second potion to hand to him.

"If it makes you feel better," Ron said cheerily. "In second year we all had to drink potion with bits of Slytherins in it to try and figure out who had opened the Chamber of Secrets."

The potion fell from Ellie's hand and shattered when it hit the ground.

"Oh my God." Ellie whispered.

_The Chamber of Secrets._

How could she have been so stupid?

"Are you alright, Ellie?" Ryou asked. Ellie ignored him, and for that matter she ignored everyone else that were staring at her.

She had suddenly realized _exactly_ where she had seen the Eye of Horus before.

Dead centre of Salazar Slytherin's forehead, on the gargantuan statue of him in the Chamber of Secrets.

Her nightmare where she had been running down an aisle, enclosed by water on either side, had taken place in the Chamber of Secrets.

The snake that was fighting the strange monster with the head of a crocodile was the _basilisk._

And as soon as she realized this, Ellie felt a pull drawing her to it. She suddenly felt as though the Chamber were a magnet, and it was tugging her in. She absolutely couldn't resist. And she _knew _that she _had _to go alone. Ellie didn't know why, but she just did.

Ellie shook her head, dazed and not wanting to rouse suspicion. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said, knowing that she was a terrible liar. She waved her wand at the mess she had just made of Malik's potion, and it instantly repaired itself and the potion hopped back into it's container. "I'm really sorry, though. I just realized something. I have to go!"

Ellie hoped that they wouldn't notice that something was wrong. She also hoped that they didn't think that she was leaving Malik for something stupid.

She kissed Malik on the forehead and told him to feel better, then jogged out of the hospital wing. Miraculously, no one followed her.

For the second time, Ellie was going to the Chamber of Secrets.

She prayed that neither monster would be there.

**XXX**

**Okay, now that it's all out and in the open I have to ask: was it obvious? How many of you (be honest!) guessed that it was the Chamber where Ellie had seen the Eye and was having her dreams in? I know that a few of you snappy reviews had guessed it! C: Cookies to you guys!**

**Did you guys catch the (not so subtle) hint that Marik's a parsletongue? I thought that it would fit. Malik doesn't know it yet, but he's going to be one as well! (Not that it plays a big role in the story anyways xD )**

**Oh, and the crazy Marik POV! I made it all trippy and scattered on purpose, but I'm worried that it just looked like I temporarily forgot how to write. XD Like it or dislike it? I was aiming to make him look absolutely bat shit crazy, so I hope it worked!**

**And what did you think about crazy Malik? Is he sufficiently crazy? It was mega fun writing him like that. It was easy too. But, unfortunately his intense insanity is only temporary. *sigh***

**Like I said, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I really got to have some fun with the characters. ^.^ I hope it shows.**

**Thanks for reading, my lovelies!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey guys!**

**I intended for this to be a little bitty short chapter, but it ended up being the longest one of the story so far. Oops! There was just so much that needed to be explained, and I wanted to make sure that I did it right. I'm just hoping and praying that I didn't leave out anything!**

**Disclaimer: Both HP and YGO belong to their respective creators, and not me. A girl can only dream . . .**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 28**

Ellie just could _not _believe how stupid she had been! The key to where she had seen the Eye of Horus before had been staring her in the face _all damned year,_ and she still hadn't realized it.

All that time she had spent in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom brewing dreamless sleep potions, just sitting on top of the entrance, and she still had never realized that the Chamber of Secrets was where she needed to be in order to find out what was going on with her. And now she was being _drawn_ to the Chamber as though nothing else existed. Ellie knew that something waited down there for her, and she had to greet it. Whether it was friendly or not did not matter, Ellie knew that she had no choice.

She could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. She figured that it was a combination of the stress of the day worrying about Malik, and the fact that she had not eaten anything recently and was exerting herself by sprinting towards the second floor. Ellie did her best to ignore it, because she had more pressing matters to deal with.

She ran down the dark corridors, the slapping of her feet on the marble floors the only sound meeting her ears. Curfew was very soon, so Ellie was lucky to meet no one on her travels. Not even Filch, Mrs. Norris, or a teacher. And Ellie just thanked Merlin that Peeves was elsewhere, hopefully diverting all of their attention.

She finally reached the second floor girl's bathroom and slipped in, hurrying to the tap engraved with the tiny image of a snake.

It was at this point that Ellie remembered that she was not a parsletongue.

"God damn it!" She cursed in an uncharacteristic display of rage, kicking the sink in frustration. "Ouch!"

Ellie let out a string of profanities while she hopped around, clutching her throbbing foot. She barely had time to wonder where her sudden bout of anger had come from before she heard an unwelcome giggle coming from behind her.

"What?" She snapped, whirling around on Moaning Myrtle. Ellie did not have the patience, as her headache was progressively getting worse and her foot hurt like crazy, all while the pull to the inaccessible Chamber was driving her insane.

"My, someone's a cranky one, isn't she?" Myrtle taunted, swooping down from the ceiling. "I didn't know Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes was capable of such language."

"Myrtle, I really don't have the time-"

"Well I do!" Myrtle screeched, her mood switching completely and her eyes welling up. "I have all the time in the world, don't I?! I'M DEAD!" She collapsed dramatically into her favorite toilet, sending up a splash that sprayed Ellie with toilet water.

"Ugh," Ellie sighed, and took off her drenched robe. Luckily, her uniform skirt and blouse underneath hadn't gotten wet in the splash. She tossed the sodden garment over the door of a stall.

Myrtle was right, she _was_ being unreasonable. Even though Myrtle drove Ellie nuts, she felt bad for hurting her feelings and wanted to apologize.

"Myrtle! I'm sorry," Ellie said, knocking on the door to the stall. "I just have a really bad headache, and I _need_ to get to the Chamber, but I can't open the-"

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Myrtle suddenly appeared through the stall door, causing Ellie to emit a small scream in fright as she jumped back. "I suppose that you're meeting that _man _down there." She frowned.

"What man?" Ellie asked in shock. Could this be who was causing the pull drawing her down to the Chamber?

Myrtle frowned moodily. "The man with the turban, and blank eyes. He wouldn't even talk to me!" She whined. "I expect he would be quite handsome if he didn't dress so funny -"

"Shadi?" Ellie asked fearfully.

"I don't know!" Myrtle said, crossing her arms and getting upset again. "I _told_ you, he wouldn't talk to me!"

"Did he have a golden key around his neck?" Ellie asked.

"Mhm," Myrtle nodded, jutting her lower lip out in a pout. "That means that he must be rich, too. Hmpf!"

Ellie felt sick. If it _was_ Shadi that had gone down there, Ellie did not want to go anywhere near him. Especially alone. Not only had Ellie promised Malik that she would stay away from him, but on top of that she was terrified. Ellie had been downing dreamless sleep potion every night for the past week in order to avoid seeing him in her _dreams,_ and she certainly did not want to meet the real live Shadi where no one could help her. Ellie was nowhere near as good at defensive magic as Harry was, nor was she as clever as Hermione or as brave as Ron. And Merlin knew what kind of magic Shadi was capable of unleashing on her. She wished that she had her friends by her side.

Ellie shook her head, coming to a decision. There was _no way_ that she was going down there. She could resist the pull that was drawing her in, at least for a little bit. The thought of this man had been haunting her for a week now, and Ellie realized that she just was not ready to face her fears alone. Maybe she could go round up Yugi and Ryou to help her out. Judging by what they had just told her in the hospital wing, they were _more_ than strong enough to protect her.

"Yeah," Ellie muttered to herself, backing towards the door.

"Huh?" Myrtle said. By now she was drifting along just below the ceiling, hands behind her head and humming a dreadfully awful tune.

"I changed my mind," Ellie said, hurrying over and grabbing her wet robe from where it hung. "I'm not going down after all." She chuckled weakly. "Besides, I can't speak parsletongue anyway."

Myrtle smirked. "Chicken."

Ellie scowled, but otherwise ignored her. She knew that it was perfectly true. Ellie had always had trouble rushing headfirst into danger when she was alone, and she felt horrible about going to ask Yugi and Ryou for help. She knew that they would _never_ drag her into a dangerous situation like this. She didn't understand how they did it all the time.

Ellie sighed, and dejectedly pulled out her wand to dry her robe, but a screeching noise from behind her made her whip around.

Her heart skipped a couple of beats when she saw that the door to the Chamber had opened, seemingly of it's own accord. Her robe fell out of her hands, and landed on the cold floor. The sink that was perched on top of it had slid down into its grate, and the gaping hole in the floor that led down to the Chamber was revealed.

"Eeep!" Myrtle squeaked, diving into her toilet once again. Only this time, she did not resurface.

Ellie hastily backed away from the entrance, not wanting to turn her back on it but wanting to get the hell out of there _now._

Ellie was moving so quickly towards the door that when she slammed into a solid barrier it knocked the wind out of her, and she whirled around to see what had hindered her progress.

There was nothing there.

Ellie once again tried to get through, but was blocked. She raised her hand, only to find that there was an invisible wall stopping her from getting to the door.

Panicked now, Ellie ran to the left, all while pounding as hard as she could with closed fists against the barrier. She felt no give.

"_Reducto!" _She cried, thrusting her wand at the barrier. She tried to get through again, but to no avail. Her spell had no effect on it whatsoever.

It was then that Ellie heard a scratching noise coming from the entrance. It was very quiet at first, but it quickly became louder and louder. It sounded like something, a very _big _something, was climbing up the tunnel.

Ellie did not want to be caught with her back against the barrier, so she took a few steps forward and raised her wand to try and scare off whatever was coming for her.

The creature was getting much nearer, Ellie knew, and with it the scratching and scraping noises got louder. They were soon accompanied by a heavy, labored breathing.

Ellie gulped. Her foot no longer hurt, but her headache had escalated to the point of near agony. However, she barely felt it because she was so terrified of whatever was climbing up to meet her. How did it create a barrier to prevent her from escaping? Her wand arm was trembling, she noticed, and she could see in the reflection of a mirror across the room that she was very pale.

And then the monster finally climbed out of the hole, letting out a mighty roar so powerful that it blew Ellie's hair back.

Then it all happened too quick for Ellie to react at all. It reached out with one of it's massive paws and seized Ellie around the waist, jerking her forwards so hard that her wand flew out of her hand. She screamed in terror as it squeezed her firmly, and then gasped in pain. But upon hearing her gasp, the monster instantly relaxed it's grip so that it wasn't hurting her anymore at all. Then it lifted her clear off of the floor and dragged her down the tunnel leading towards the Chamber. She was completely defenseless. She couldn't believe that she had been so careless as to drop her wand. Now it was too late.

The monster was all too familiar to Ellie. She had seen it before in that dream that had scared her so much. It was the monster with the head of a crocodile, torso of a lion and it's hindquarters were that of a hippopotamus. It was the monster that had saved her from the basilisk in her dream in the Chamber of Secrets. But this was no dream, she knew. Ellie screamed again when she realized the implications: what if her dream was prophetic? Was she being dragged down into the chamber only to be fought over by a gargantuan snake with a lethal gaze and a massive monster that was a deadly combination of three of the most dangerous animals? Would they kill her? Or worse, would they eat her alive?

Ellie felt her ears popping as the monster carried her deeper and deeper below the school, the darkness pressing around her on all sides. She had stopped screaming by now, and her breathing had reached a desperate level. She would suck in a breath and let it out quickly, doing this over and over again until she felt as though she wasn't getting enough oxygen. She felt as though she were on the verge of a panic attack, and wished that she had at least a paper bag to control her breathing.

She didn't even try to escape. Ellie knew that she had to go down to the Chamber and face her fears no matter what, so she figured that she would do it in a way that told this man Shadi that she wasn't going to resist, so he had no reason to hurt her.

Not for the first time, Ellie wondered why she was put into Gryffindor instead of Hufflepuff. The most dominant trait of Gryffindor was their courage and boldness, but Ellie knew that she was just about as brave as Professor Quirrell.

The monster finally reached the end of the tunnel, and it carried Ellie through a familiar looking cavernous room. It was walking with only three legs, and Ellie was still being held in the fourth. But the monster's limp did not make it any less terrifying for Ellie.

She wished that she had never followed the transfers into Knockturn Alley. This never would have happened if she had just listened to Hermione.

Her eyes landed on the fifty foot long snake skin that was still there from second year and shivered. Ellie certainly did _not _remember the basilisk being _that_ big, and she hoped that it was still dead. Ellie knew from experience that things that _should_ have been dead weren't always what they seemed. Voldemort, and even Yami and Bakura were prime examples.

The monster came to the big pile of rocks that had been the result of Professor Lockhart's memory charm backfiring. Tucking Ellie into it's chest to shield her from harm, the monster plowed straight on through the rocks with no problem whatsoever, and Ellie found herself inside the Chamber of Secrets.

It smelt terrible. Ellie instantly clapped a hand to her nose to try to block out the stench and then began struggling to get down. The pull that had been drawing her here relaxed, but her headache had increased even more. She was starting to believe that her headache was being triggered by this monster, and the pungent smell certainly was not helping matters.

It carried her to the statue of Slytherin, and set Ellie down quite gently for such an intimidating beast. She took a nervous step forward, and looked up.

Salazar Slytherin looked exactly as she had remembered him. The statue was still as intimidating, and the Eye of Horus stood out directly on his forehead, just as Ellie knew it would. She reflected once again on how stupid she had been to not remember it.

She shivered when she realized that this most likely meant that Voldemort, who was Slytherin's true heir, would most certainly be able to wield the Millennium Items.

Ellie turned around to face the monster once again, shocked that it wasn't mauling her or eating her. No, the terrifying monster was laying down, with it's head and ears perked up, watching the opposite end of the Chamber where they had just entered. It looked for all the world like a dog guarding his house while his master was out.

Ellie nervously took a few steps to the monster's right in order to get a better look at the Chamber. She almost retched when she found the source of the smell: it was the half-decomposed body of the basilisk. There were countless rats feasting on the undoubtedly endless amount of flesh that the serpent provided. Ellie shuddered, and quickly looked away. It was revolting, but the sight of the dead basilisk at least provided Ellie with some comfort. She now knew that she only had one monster to worry about.

"Elizabeth Grace Milton, I presume?" A voice came from behind Ellie, and she whirled around.

It was Shadi. Ellie gulped and nodded nervously, pulling her hand away from her nose and forcing herself to breathe through her mouth instead. The monster, who Ellie was beginning to realize probably did not want to devour her, actually was eyeing Shadi as though he were a threat. Ellie decided that she would rather take her chances with the monster than Shadi, and took a few steps in it's direction.

"H-how did you get in here?" She asked, hoping that she sounded braver than she felt. "Professor Dumbledore has placed every level of protection on this school possible. And Yugi and Ryou will know that you are here."

"I am not your average human, Elizabeth. I have covered my path so they will not be able to sense me," Shadi replied, stepping towards her and smiling in a very unfriendly manner. "As I am sure that you know, Shadow magic has many advantages."

The monster growled as Shadi approached, and Ellie began to feel bad for ever fearing the monster at all. Even though it had dragged her down here, it had never ever hurt her. And it was still acting like a very loyal and protective dog to her, so she was immensely grateful for it's presence even though she believed that it was causing her to have the worst headache she could possibly imagine.

"I know," Ellie replied quietly, fiddling with the buttons on her blouse nervously. Once again, she desperately wished that she had her wand. "What do you want with me?"

"I believe that your friend Malik has already answered that one for you, my dear." He said. Ellie's skin crawled at him calling her 'dear', but she quickly forgot about it.

"My endurance in the Shadow Realm?"

"I must admit that I would not have given you a second glance, Elizabeth. You seem to be most insignificant." Shadi said. "But when you got caught in the Shadow Mage's duel in the Shadow Realm you gained my attention. How could a weak little girl last so long in the shadows?" He mused, tapping a long finger on his chin and staring at Ellie in a creepy manner. "That invisibility cloak could not hide you from me, my dear. I keep an eye on all happenings in the Shadow Realm." He laughed. "But it's not just your endurance that I want," He continued, approaching even more. Ellie took a step back, and the monster continued to growl at Shadi's proximity to Ellie, but it never made a move. Perhaps it wasn't as protective over her as she thought?

She gulped.

Shadi laughed.

"I see that my beast has taken a liking to you, Elizabeth," Shadi said. "Not that I am surprised. But don't be fooled, dear, her loyalties will remain with me until I forfeit possession of the Scales."

"The Millennium Scales?" Ellie asked. "You're the one that took them from Malik?"

Shadi nodded, smiling at her again. "Your friend Malik did not know how to use them properly. He was never fit to wield them." Shadi said, coming closer still. "The beast's name is Ammit. She would never answer to him. Do you know what her job is, Elizabeth?"

Ellie shook her head.

Shadi pulled out a golden object, which could only be the infamous Millennium Scales. "If these deem a person's soul to be impure, then Ammit will devour them, preventing their souls from reaching any form of an afterlife."

Ellie jumped back from the monster, which fixed it's gaze on her threateningly.

"Whoever wields these holds great power, and great responsibility, Elizabeth." Shadi continued, as though she had never jumped back. "But you are not ready. You have failed all of my tests so far."

"I failed all of your tests?" Ellie asked confusedly.

Shadi nodded. "Yes. I have tested your wit, courage and loyalty and you failed each trial."

Ellie still didn't understand. "I don't remember any trials."

"The first trial," Shadi said. "Was identifying the Eye of Horus. You knew what it was when you initially saw it in Knockturn Alley, yes?"

Ellie frowned. "And then I got distracted by the boy's duel-"

"You did not forget. I pulled the information from your head after the Shadow game, while you were unconscious."

"You went inside my head?" Ellie squeaked, unconsciously crossing her arms over her chest. Malik had said that his Millennium Ankh allowed him to enter a person's soul room and see everything or make adjustments, and it sounds like that was exactly what he had did. Ellie felt incredibly violated.

Shadi nodded. "The trial was to see whether or not you could regain the memory of _this,"_ He said, and gestured around the Chamber, "Being where you had first seen the Eye of Horus."

"But I remembered!" Ellie said excitedly. "I just remembered now, in the hospital wing-"

"No." Shadi said. "You did not remember. I returned the information to you because I have run out of time."

"Run out of time for what?"

"I gave you all of the information that you needed," Shadi carried on, ignoring her question. "The dreams were my doing. I arranged your mind so that these dreams would haunt you until you _realized_ that Salazar Slytherin was a wielder of a Millennium Item many years ago." He sighed unhappily. "And when that did not work I provided you with the dream of Ammit feasting on the basilisk, but alas, you still did not heed my call."

"That was you?" Ellie asked angrily, her fear multiplying. Ammit echoed her fury by growling from behind her, and a fresh stab of pain radiated in her temples, reminding her of the ache in her head that had yet to go away. She flinched.

"Yes, my dear, it was." Shadi continued. "I took the Millennium Scales that same night. I purposely left the darkness trailing on you so the transfer's wouldn't suspect _me_ of thievery, because that could interfere with my plan. However," he frowned. "It seems that the three of them trust you a lot more than I had originally accounted for. They believed you when you told them that you did not take the Scales."

"Are you saying that you framed me?" Ellie asked sadly, thinking back to how Malik reacted. "But they could have hurt me!" Ellie knew how badly they _would _have hurt her had she actually taken the scales.

"Yes," Shadi said. "They would have."

Ellie tried her best to remain calm. "But what about Harry?" She asked. "He didn't recognize the Eye when Yugi showed it to him. And he would have seen it in second year."

"There is no divine explanation for that, Elizabeth. Your friend simply did not see the eye. He was fighting the basilisk while you tended to the little girl. He did not get the chance." Shadi said. Ellie felt stupid, because that made perfect sense. The memory of Tom Riddle had instantly sent the basilisk after Harry, and Ellie had remained by Ginny's side to try and revive her. This was when Ellie had looked up and seen the Eye of Horus imprinted on Slytherin's forehead. Harry was a little too busy to look up.

"The second trial was to test your courage. And I must say that you failed the courage portion magnificently." His blank eyes stared off at a point above Ellie's head, and he looked very lost in thought. Ellie didn't dare interrupt him. "This was when I visited you in your soul room."

"My soul room?" Ellie asked. She knew what it was, Yugi had explained them to her. But Ellie wasn't aware that she had one. She thought that it was just for the Millennium Item holders.

"Yes, Elizabeth, your soul room. It takes the shape of your bedroom. In your case, your soul room is where you feel the safest and most comfortable."

Ellie's eyes widened, as she remembered this. "That was the other dream, where you tried to get into my head!"

"I did not try," Shadi said. "I have already been inside of your head." Ellie shuddered, remembering that he said that he had gone into the depths of her mind that day in Knockturn Alley. "That was the second trial. I wanted to terrify you. I came to you where you felt the most safe. I invaded your dreams, and still left my imprint on your mind when you were awake. And then-"

"You eclipsed my aura," Ellie finished. "Why?"

"To scare you," Shadi continued, smiling again. "I knew that you were too shy to tell the Shadow Mages about me visiting you in your dream, so I eclipsed your aura so they would demand to know what happened." He laughed. It was a low pitched, disturbing sound. "I wanted you to know who I was. I wanted you to fear me. And who better to tell you than the three who fear me most?"

Ellie sighed. "So how did I fail that one?"

"You began taking the dreamless sleep potion." Shadi replied simply. "All wielders of the Millennium Items must have the courage to face their fears."

"Wielders of the Millennium Items?" Ellie demanded. "Are you saying that _I'm_ a wielder?"

"I gave you another chance to redeem yourself," Shadi said, once again completely ignoring Ellie's question. "It was a last minute attempt, but I thought that you would at least pass this one." He shook his head sadly. "I had the dead girl in the bathroom tell you that I was down here. Had you come down without question, then you would have passed. But you tried to run."

Ellie hung her head shamefully. These trials seemed to be very humiliating, as they were forcing Ellie to stare all of her mistakes from the past month or so in the face.

"I still don't get why you've put me through these trials," She eventually said in disbelief, trying to change the subject. "Because I _know_ that you're not going to give me the Millennium Scales-"

"The third trial," Shadi interrupted. "Was to test your loyalty. I did not need to interfere with this trial, as an opportunity presented itself. But alas, you still failed."

Ellie hung her head. She did not need an explanation for this one. "Malik," she whispered.

"Yes, Elizabeth," Shadi said. "But the way that you conducted yourself today has influenced my decision. You treat your friends very well, my dear. You still failed the loyalty portion of the trial, but had you not redeemed yourself today we would not be having this conversation right now. Which brings me back to why we are here."

Ellie gulped, and took an unconscious step back into Ammit. She jumped when she felt the beast's breath on her neck, but Ellie did not move. She was determined to at least save some face in front of this man who had shamed her so much.

"Lord Voldemort has gotten ahold of Marik Ishtar. They already have gained access to two Millennium Items, and they have set their sights on mine." Shadi pulled out the Millennium Ankh. "I would have liked to have given you more time to prove yourself worthy of the scales. Like I said, you are nowhere near ready to wield them." Ellie gasped as he confirmed her suspicions, "But I'm afraid that Lord Voldemort wants to kill me now. There is no time to waste."

"It doesn't have to be like that!" Ellie said desperately, "Professor Dumbledore can protect you, if you just stay inside Hogwarts grounds-"

"Ah," Shadi said, smiling genuinely now and not so creepily. "You _are_ pure of heart, I can see. Even though you have failed all three of your trials, it is obvious that I have made the right choice."

"Pure of heart?" Ellie asked.

"The true wielder of the Millennium Scales must have a pure heart, mind, and soul in order to keep the balance of the scales even."

"So you're actually giving me the scales?" Ellie gasped, shaking her head. "No, no, I can't. Really. You're making a mistake, I'm not ready-"

"No," Shadi said. "You are not ready. At all. It will take a very long time for you to master the use of the scales in your current undisciplined state, and the shadows will do their very best to corrupt your pure heart. They have already begun their corruption. You remember your fit of rage just moments ago, when you could not open the Chamber?"

Ellie nodded shamefully, remembering how she had kicked the sink in her anger and cursed and snapped at Myrtle.

"That was the shadow's doing. They sense a naïve and easily manipulated mind. But you will learn how to resist them in time, and how to control your magic."

"How do you know?" Ellie asked.

"Because you're exercising your magic right now," Shadi said.

"What?"

"I was the one that conjured up Ammit, Elizabeth, but it is your own power that is keeping her here."

Ellie whirled around to face the monster. She raised her head and cocked it to the side, as though she were asking what Ellie were looking at.

"That is not any ordinary headache you are feeling, my dear." Shadi said, and Ellie turned back around to face him. "The magic you are using will drain you immensely as soon as you stop supplying it to Ammit. I suggest you dam the flow of power as soon as possible to prevent a longer recovery time."

"I don't know how," Ellie said frantically, looking around as though there would be a nearby object to help her out.

"Then I must drain you," Shadi said. He thrust the Millennium Scales in her hands, along with a long blue feather. Ellie expected something dramatic to happen. Sparks, a flash of light, something like when she had first touched her wand, but there was nothing.

"How do I-"

"The Shadow Mages will explain everything to you," Shadi said. "But for now we must go to the Shadow Realm. I wish to see how long your power will last."

"What?!" Ellie cried. "No!" She did _not _want to go back to that place. It still terrified her.

But it was too late. Before she knew it, a black wall of darkness was rushing towards her, and Ellie was instantly back in the place with the eyes that she dreaded so much.

As soon as the darkness enveloped her, Ellie dropped to her knees. The pain in her head instantly radiated out into her entire body, causing her to scream out in agony. Ellie saw Ammit disappear out of the corner of her eye.

"Your power is drained immensely," Shadi said calmly, ignoring Ellie's pain. "You will not last long in the shadows. And I suspect that it will take you days to recover from this. Do not resist it. The shadows can and will penetrate your soul completely, preventing you from ever returning to your world again."

Ellie couldn't answer. Shadi was right, the shadows had completely drained the last of her energy. She fell forwards onto her hands, which only supported her weight for a few seconds before they gave out. She fell to the ground. The pain in her body was still just as bad, but she was too exhausted to react anymore. She decided that it would be best to listen to Shadi, and just stop resisting. The last thing Ellie saw before the shadows claimed her was Shadi seeming to melt into the ground, and the eyes of the Shadow Realm fading into the damp walls of the Chamber. She used the last of her strength to clutch the scales and the feather that Shadi had given her to her chest, and allowed her consciousness to calmly drift away as she laid on the cold, wet floor of the Chamber of Secrets.

**XXX**

"Harry! Harry, wake up!"

Ryou was awoken by a frantic Hermione barging into their dorm around five the next morning, standing over Harry's bed and attempting to shake him awake. She looked as though she had just woken up, as her hair was all mussed and her robe was thrown over her nightgown inside out.

"Harry, for God's sakes, wake up! Where's the map?"

Harry sat up, grumbling at being awakened at such an ungodly hour. "It's in my trunk, Hermione. What's wrong?"

Hermione just shook her head and hurried to the end of Harry's bed, digging through his trunk for this map she was talking about.

"What's the matter?" Yugi asked blearily, sitting up and looking over. Hermione didn't respond.

_What the hell is she doing, Ryou?_

Ryou shrugged mentally, and looked around as his fellow roommates began to stir. Neville rolled out of bed and landed quite ungracefully on the floor, and Seamus sat bolt upright.

"Oi! You're not supposed to be in here!" Seamus called over crankily, tossing a pillow in Hermione's direction. "And it's five AM, for Merlin's sakes! Go back to bed!"

Hermione impatiently waved her wand and the pillow flew back at Seamus, knocking him straight out of bed and he ended up as an ungraceful heap on the floor just like Neville. He let out a mighty string of curses and climbed back in, but didn't retaliate. In spite of the situation, Ryou grinned.

Hermione must have finally found what she was looking for, as she pulled a tattered bit of parchment and jumped to her feet.

"I need to talk to you guys right away," She said to Harry, Ron, Yugi and Ryou. "In the common room."

"Is Malik alright?" Yugi asked worriedly, hopping out of bed and looking for something to put on over his starry pajamas.

"Yes, he is," Hermione said, before racing down the stairs.

_Where's Ellie? _Ryou asked Bakura worriedly as he got out of bed and began looking for something to throw on instead of his pajama bottoms. _She and Hermione are usually inseparable. You don't think . . . ?_

_I am sure that she is alright, Ryou._ Bakura replied. _She was asleep in her dorm, remember?_

_No, _Ryou said, suddenly panicked. _She didn't come back to the common room with us! She raced off right before we left, saying that she had to do something . . ._

_Elizabeth is a smart girl, Ryou._ _She wouldn't go racing into any sort of danger alone. Besides, _He said, chucking mentally. _What could happen inside Hogwarts?_

Ryou didn't respond. Bakura was right, but there was still a nagging voice in the back of his head that told him that something just was not right. He snapped back to attention quickly.

"Bloody women," Seamus grumbled unhappily, before rolling over and letting out a mighty snore.

Ron threw on a jumper, Harry slipped into a pair of jeans and Yugi and Ryou pulled on t-shirts and trousers. The four boys hurriedly made their way into the common room, wondering what had Hermione so worked up.

Luckily, since it was so early the common room was empty, save for Hermione pouring over a map. Yami and Bakura both phased out.

"What is going on, Hermione?" Yami asked, joining her in looking at the map. "What is - Ra, that is ingenious!"

"What's ingenious?" Bakura asked, somehow managing to shove his incorporeal form in between Hermione and Yami and taking a look at the map. "Damn, are those people?"

"Yeah," Ron said, plopping down on the armrest of a nearby chaise. "It shows who is in the castle, and where they are at all times."

"That's amazing!" Yugi said, joining the small group staring at the map and taking a look. "How does it work?"

"Dunno," Harry said, shrugging and stifling a yawn. "My dad and his mates made it when they went here."

"It's really complicated magic," Hermione said, eyes still glued to the map. She seemed very keyed up and nervous. Ryou thought that she was looking for something, or someone on the map. "It's never wrong . . ."

"Can I see?" Ryou asked, and she and Yugi budged up so he could join them. The map really was quite amazing, he thought. He could see Filch was prowling the corridors, and Umbridge was bustling around in her private quarters. Professor Dumbledore, he noticed, seemed to be pacing in his office.

"Why did you want it, Hermione?" Ron asked, "Don't tell me you woke us up just to watch Dumbledore pacing _again_! He rolled his eyes. "And where's Ellie? If we have to be missing our precious beauty sleep, then so does she-"

"I don't know," Hermione said. "She never came back!" Hermione's calm façade instantly melted into panic. "That's why I wanted the map, but she isn't on here!" Ryou's fascination with the map instantly evaporated.

"What?" He asked, whirling around and fixing his gaze on Hermione. "You're just coming to us about this _now?"_

Hermione burst into tears, and Ryou instantly felt bad for snapping. "I meant to wait up for her, I really did!" Ron awkwardly put an arm around her shoulder, and Hermione continued to wail into her hands. "I was reading in bed, but I fell asleep! I only just woke up, and that was because I was having the _weirdest_ dream about the basilisk -"

Bakura looked up from the map. "Well, then maybe the map is wrong," He said.

"No," Harry replied, ripping it out of their hands and taking a look for himself. "The map never lies."

"Well where could she have gone?" Ryou demanded.

"Did you check the hospital wing? Maybe she went to see Malik again," Yugi said reasonably. Harry checked the map, but shook his head in an indication that she wasn't there.

"Can't you use that ring thingie to find her?" Ron asked, pointing to the Millennium Ring around Ryou's neck. "You said it can lead you to certain objects."

Yami shook his head. "It won't work. There's too much magical interference."

Ryou wanted to give it a shot anyways. He lifted the ring up so that it was horizontal to the floor, and used every morsel of his concentration to will it to point him to Ellie. The pointers on the ring clattered around in every which way uselessly. Ryou groaned in frustration, and angrily thrust it under his shirt.

_Ryou,_ Bakura soothed. _We'll find her._

Ryou actually drew comfort from his yami. It wasn't his words that made him feel better, but it was the fact that Bakura now seemed to actually care enough to try to console Ryou that lifted his spirits. But only by a little bit.

"Well, we know that Voldemort doesn't have anything to do with it," Harry said. "I would have felt something."

"What about Marik?" Yami asked. "He would surely strike if he had the chance."

Harry shook his head. "No, Marik is with Voldemort right now. He's teaching him how to use the Millennium Eye."

Ryou was shocked that Harry knew so accurately what Voldemort was doing, and quite disturbed that their enemies were _already _working on manipulating the shadows. He gulped.

"We should go to Dumbledore," Hermione said tearfully. "He might know something."

"Right," Harry said. The yamis both phased back into their host bodies, and Ryou led the way out the portrait hole.

Ryou's mind was wracked with guilt as they ran towards Dumbledore's office. He _knew_ that something was wrong when Ellie let Malik's medicine fall from her hands, but he didn't follow her when she ran out. He was too busy being consumed with jealousy when she had planted a kiss on Malik's forehead, and thinking of ways that he could get even with Malik when he stuck his tongue out at him behind Ellie's back _again. _He just wished that he had gone with her, because Ryou felt that he could have prevented her from going missing.

_Ryou, you are most certainly not at fault for this._ Bakura said firmly. _There was no way that you could have known that Elizabeth would have gone missing. Hell, she may not even be in danger! Maybe she fancied a drink and went up to the Three Broomsticks -_

_Bakura, you're not helping! _Ryou snapped back. _There's no proof that she is in danger, but I can _feel _that something is wrong!_

Bakura was silent for a moment, and then sighed mentally. _I know, Ryou. I can feel it too. But that does not make it your fault._

_I should say sorry to Hermione,_ Ryou said. He didn't want to address Bakura's statement. _She's not crying anymore, so that's a good sign._

Ryou felt Bakura roll his eyes.

"I'm sorry that I snapped at you," he said to Hermione as they climbed a set of stairs.

Hermione gave him a small smile back. "It's alright, Ryou," She said. "I'm more than used to insensitive boys."

Ron picked up on this, and instantly whirled on her. "Hey, I'm not insen-"

"_Hem hem," _said a very unwelcome voice from the top of the stairs. Ryou nearly cursed in frustration.

Like the rest of them, Umbridge was dressed in her nightclothes. But she was clad in a fluffy pink robe and slippers, and her hair was curled tightly in a set of rollers.

"I am sure," She said sweetly, and Ryou felt Bakura's temper begin to boil at the mere sight of her. "That you children have a perfectly good excuse for being out of bed this early in the morning!"

"Professor," Hermione breathed. "We were just -"

"It's Pavarti, isn't it, dear?" Umbridge interrupted Hermione, who furrowed her eyebrows. Bakura growled, and Ryou felt him being to strain to be let in control of the body. Ryou only half resisted.

"No, Professor, it's Hermione," She said, flushing.

"Right," Umbridge said uncaringly, her eyes slipping from Hermione and onto the rest of the group. "Can somebody _else_ please explain to me why you're roaming the halls for no apparent reason?"

Bakura didn't need any further excuse. He instantly took over for Ryou, and gently pushed Hermione aside so that he could confront Umbridge face to face. Ryou found that he didn't have any problem with this situation, as long as Bakura got her out of the way so they could find Ellie sooner.

"I believe that I can do that," he said to her, grinning maliciously.

"Bakura!" Yami said from behind them warningly. Ryou figured that he must have taken over for Yugi. But Bakura ignored him, and pulled out the Millennium Ring from beneath his shirt.

"I am very sick of you, woman," he said to her. She looked very confused.

"That is no way to talk to the High Inquisitor, young man!" She shrieked, waving a finger in his face. "Detention!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I do not think so." The ring flashed, and Umbridge collapsed, seeming to be unconscious.

"What did you do?!" Hermione gasped, kneeling next to Umbridge.

"Thief, you cannot just send people to the Shadow Realm-" Yami began, sounding quite angry.

"You sent her to the Shadow Realm?" Harry interrupted delightedly. "Brilliant!"

Ryou had to agree with Harry. Umbridge deserved it. Besides, she would wake up soon. Bakura hadn't hit her with a full blast.

Ryou felt Bakura's hand retreat to the pocket of the pajama bottoms, where he grabbed a card from his deck and held it up. Wordlessly, he summoned up Dark Necrofear, who towered over the group.

Hermione squeaked and backed away from Umbridge and stood very close to Bakura, who irritatedly pushed her off. Harry yelped and jumped back, hitting Ron who was knocked down the stairs.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed from his spot on the floor on the level below, thankfully appearing to be unhurt. "Is that a duel monster?"

Bakura rolled his eyes again. "What else would she be?"

Yami hurried down the stairs to help Ron up, and Bakura turned to his beloved monster.

"At your service, Master," She said, bowing.

"I need you to take this," Bakura eyed Umbridge's pink clad body with extreme distaste as he tried to think of a good word to describe her. "This _witch_ back to her room. Put her in her bed, make her think that this was all a dream."

"Yes, Master," Dark Necrofear said, picking Umbridge up and none too gently throwing her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Within seconds the pair was out of sight.

"Bakura, you can't just-"

"Oh, shut up, Pharaoh." Bakura said impatiently. "She will remember nothing in the morning. And besides," He grinned evilly. "She could use a taste of her own medicine."

Ryou didn't want to know what that meant, but he was grateful for his yami's intervention nonetheless. And he had given Ryou an idea. He quickly retook control of the body.

"Yami, I have an idea," Ryou said. "Can you use Dark Magician to find Ellie?"

Hermione's face lit up. "Oh, will that work? That's brilliant, Ryou!"

Yami nodded. "So long as Ellie is relatively close by, Dark Magician will certainly be able to find her." He pulled the Millennium Puzzle out of his shirtfront and conjured up the Dark Magician.

Hermione, Harry and Ron only did a small double take this time, and did not say anything.

Dark Magician sunk to one knee, and held his staff upright. He otherwise remained quiet, though.

"Dark Magician," Yami said to him. "I need you to help us find our friend, Ellie."

"Ellie," The Dark Magician mused thoughtfully. "This is the girl with the trace of shadows, yes?"

Yami nodded. "The trace will have disappeared by now, though. Can you find her?"

The Dark Magician nodded slowly. "I shall do my best to please my master," he bowed his head. "But this castle and it's surrounding areas are very big and full of magical traps. It may take a long time."

"Very well," Yami said. "Do your best, Dark Magician."

"And steer clear of the hospital wing," Ryou said quickly. "Don't let anyone, _especially_ Malik see you. We don't want him knowing that Ellie is missing in his state."

Dark Magician nodded. He then bowed to Yami again and sunk into the floor to begin his search.

"That's incredible," Hermione breathed. "He should find her in no time."

Ryou shrugged. "I don't know, Hermione. Like he said, Hogwarts is huge."

"Well, in that case," Harry said. "We should still go to Dumbledore. He might be able to help."

"Right," Yami said, and relinquished control to Yugi. The group returned their trek to Dumbledore's office. Ryou felt much better now that Dark Magician was out looking for Ellie. It wasn't much, but it was something. Ryou couldn't stand not doing anything before.

"_Fizzing Whizbee_," Yugi's voice broke Ryou out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office beginning to rotate, revealing the stairs that led up to it. Ryou had just been in Dumbledore's office yesterday morning when Malik had gone missing, and now they were there again because Ellie was gone. He hoped that none of his other friends would disappear.

The group climbed the moving staircase, and Yugi knocked on Dumbledore's door.

"Enter," he called through.

The group squeezed through the doorway and entered Dumbledore's office. Even though it was only about 6 in the morning, the headmaster was fully dressed. Ryou was suddenly self conscious of the group's own mismatched attire.

Before any of them could say anything, Dumbledore frowned. "This is the second morning that you have visited me unannounced. I fear that this does not bode well for your friend Malik."

"No, sir. It's not him," Hermione said, stepping forward. "Ellie has gone missing."

"Miss Milton?" Dumbledore repeated, his eyebrows raising. "When was the last time that you saw her?"

"Last night," Ryou said, stepping forward. "She ran out of the hospital wing saying that she had to do something. Hermione came to us this morning and said that she never returned to her dorm."

Dumbledore looked worried. "That is most unusual for Miss Milton. She is usually a very responsible girl and does not run amuck, unless," he eyed all of the boys. "Unless she is with bad influences."

"Professor, she went off alone," Ron said. "And we have, erm, reason to believe that she isn't inside the castle."

"My intelligence was not aware of any conspiracy to kidnap Miss Milton inside Lord Voldemort's ranks," Dumbledore mused. "And there have not been any intrusions on the barriers around the castle."

"Professor, there are ways -" Harry began.

"No, Harry," Dumbledore said. Ryou once again noticed that even though he was talking to Harry, he did not meet his eyes. "After Mr. Ishtar ran away I have seen to it that every exit has been accounted for. There is no way that Miss Milton could have gotten out."

Ryou felt a small spark of hope. "And nothing could have gotten in?" He asked.

"To the best of my knowledge, no." Dumbledore nodded, and stood up. "I understand that you have sent out a search party, Mr. Muto?"

Yugi flushed. "I wouldn't call it a party, Professor."

Dumbledore smiled. "Then I believe that the best course of action is to wait, I'm afraid. I will alert the head's of houses to keep an eye out for her, and I will ask Firenze to scour the forest."

"That's it?" Bakura demanded angrily, phasing out. "That's the best that you can do? She could be hurt, and it might take _hours_-"

"You need not worry, Mr. Bakura," Dumbledore said calmly. Ryou was actually quite shocked at Bakura's outburst. It was exactly what _he _had been about to say. "Help will always come at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

**XXX**

**Whew. Glad that's over (Just kidding. I had to force myself to stop writing and save some stuff for the rest of the story.)**

**Like I said earlier, I'm hoping and praying that I explained everything properly in this chapter. But I am anything but perfect, so if there's anything that I left unexplained just drop a review or message me and I'll get back to you about it.**

**Oh, and I made up some stuff in this chapter! Thought that I should explain.**

**The first thing was regarding the Millennium Scales. Shadi saying that the wielder has to be pure of heart in order to properly balance the scales was just me making things up, as well as Shadi predicting that the shadows will corrupt Ellie because she is 'naïve, and has an easily manipulated mind.' Unlike the rest of the Shadow Mages, Ellie doesn't have a badass yami to deal with the tough stuff that comes with being a MI holder, so she will (spoiler alert!) succumb to the darkness in the near future.**

**The second thing I made up was Salazar Slytherin being a MI holder. If we're following the canon history of all the MI's, then we know that it would have been impossible for this to be true. The Ishtar's were guarding the Necklace and the Rod, Shadi had the Ankh, the Eye and the Scales, the Puzzle was undiscovered in Egypt, and though the Ring was unaccounted for, we know that Ryou was the first person to be truly worthy of it since the original Thief King. For this reason, I'm not going to specify which Item that Slytherin held. I do not want to twist canon anymore than completely necessary.**

**I think that that is all for today. **

**Don't be afraid to review! I don't bite, I promise.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Hey guys!**

**Long time no see. Sorry about that. I'd sit here and give you excuses, but I'm pretty sure that absolutely none of you want to hear it. But, hopefully this chapter will make up for it! :D**

**Disclaimer: Ha. Like I actually own any of this. YOU'RE FUNNY.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 29**

"So, who's gonna break it to Malik?" Ron asked the group in his usual tactful way as they made their way to the hospital wing to quickly visit Malik before class. After their meeting with Dumbledore the group had returned to their dorms to get properly dressed and had sat down for breakfast, but none of them had really eaten much.

"You are not telling Malik!" Hermione snapped. She wasn't the only one who had been extremely irritable all morning. "He's got enough to cope with as is!"

"He has a right to know," Ron continued. "Ellie is his friend as well."

Ryou frowned. He disagreed. They shouldn't tell Malik about her just yet. None of them still had any idea of where Ellie had disappeared to. And judging from Malik's unstable state the night before, he was certainly in no mind to have to deal with the worry the entire group was experiencing.

"You know that he is going to find out eventually, Hermione," Ron said. "And when he does, he's going to be _pissed_ that we didn't tell him."

That was a good point, and they all knew it. Ryou wanted to say something in Hermione's defense, but Bakura laughed inside his head. _Don't worry, Ryou. I believe that Hermione has got it covered._

"So let him!" Hermione continued to argue, proving Bakura's point. "I really couldn't care less if he gets mad. It's for his own good, so we're not telling him."

"But, Hermione -" Ron continued to whine.

"I said no!" Hermione snapped angrily, and Ron instantly backed down. Bakura laughed and phased out in the empty corridor.

"Ronald I assure you that if you do not heed Hermione's warning, then you will have more to worry about than just _her_ wrath." Bakura said, and Ron paled. Ryou knew that Bakura was only being a fraction of how intimidating he could _really_ be, but it seemed to be effective nonetheless.

"Fine," Ron mumbled. "But when he finds out and wants to bludgeon you lot, I want nothing to do with it."

"Malik will not bludgeon anybody, Ron," Yami said, phasing out as well. "Ryou still has the Rod, remember?"

"Let's just hope that he doesn't ask for it back," Harry said gravely as they reached the doors to the hospital wing. "And for Merlin's sakes, Ryou, at least _try _to look happy."

Ryou nodded, and tried to arrange his features into a somewhat neutral expression. But as they walked through the doors Ryou wondered if it would be enough. They were all very pale that morning. He just hoped that Malik wouldn't notice.

The hospital wing was still vacant except for Malik, who was fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He was sitting cross legged on his bed reading a motorcycle magazine.

"You look great!" Yugi gushed when the group him.

"Yeah, mate," Ron added. "You must be feeling better."

He _did_ looked a lot better that morning. He was by no means the picture of health, but it was a great improvement over the night before. The color had returned to his face, the bags under his eyes had shrunk considerably, and the wild glint in his eyes had dulled so that he at least looked sane. The cut on his face, however, hadn't improved much. But Ryou was just incredibly glad to see his friend looking so much better that he felt a small smile creep onto his face as he approached the bed.

"And you guys look awful," Malik replied, instantly wiping Ryou's grin away. His hopes that Malik wouldn't notice their haggard appearances were instantly shot down.

"Well we were just worried about you," Hermione lied nervously. Bakura rolled his eyes at her terrible lie. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Where's Ellie?"

"She's not feeling well," Yugi lied smoothly.

"She didn't want to come see me?" Malik asked, sounding quite dejected.

"Of course she did, Malik!" Hermione squeaked. "She wanted to be here, but she couldn't. But she sends her love."

Ryou noticed Ron rolling his eyes. Luckily, Malik didn't. He just made a face. "Must be that time of month, I suppose."

"_Malik!"_ Ryou hissed, a blush creeping onto his face. Bakura just burst out laughing again.

"Oh, now he talks," Malik said, shaking his head. "I bet that's where she ran off to last night then? Oh, don't look so embarrassed, Ryou. We're all friends here."

Yugi was blushing just as hard as Ryou was, and Hermione looked annoyed.

"Malik," Ryou scolded desperately, shaking his head and willing the blush to fade. This was certainly not something the he wanted to talk about.

"At least you're not so pale anymore," Malik shrugged. "And look on the bright side! At least you don't have to worry about her being knocked -"

"_Malik!_" This time it was Hermione that interjected.

The group's laughter died down considerably quicker than it would have under normal circumstances, and of course this didn't escape Malik's notice.

"Why are you all so down this morning?" He asked. "I mean, Marik being alive sucks and all but even _I'm _over it by now."

No one answered. Ryou knew that that was a big fat lie, but didn't call him out on it. Malik was thankfully coming to the wrong conclusions, so he didn't want to push their luck.

"Where did you get this magazine, Malik?" Yami asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. He pointed at the motorcycle magazine lying on the bed.

"Yeah," Ron said. "It's muggle, isn't it?"

"Yep," Malik said happily. "Siri- I mean, Snuffles sent it through Dumbledore. Did you know that he has a flying motorcycle?"

Harry nodded, and Ryou watched as the two of them actually engaged in a civilized conversation. It was nice to see the two of them actually enjoying each others company for once, but Ryou couldn't bring himself to listen or join in. He knew that he was being very quiet, and that fact had certainly not escaped the other's notice. They were all worried for Ellie, but Ryou thought that Dumbledore's less than extreme reaction gave the rest of the group a false sense of security. Ryou knew that Dumbledore was an incredibly wise man, and that he would know if something went wrong in his castle. Yugi and Yami on the other hand didn't trust Dumbledore's judgment as much as their friends, but they were very good at hiding their emotions and were playing the part of having nothing amiss very well.

Ryou knew that he was an open book when it came to his emotions, but he couldn't help it. He was certainly the most worried, it seemed. Regardless of what Dumbledore said, Ryou would not settle down until he was able to see that Ellie was perfectly okay.

Ryou realized suddenly that Bakura was listening in on his thoughts, and looked up to meet his eyes. He looked annoyed.

_Elizabeth will be fine, Ryou._

_How do you know? _Ryou snapped back irritably.

Bakura shrugged. _Because the old man said so. And I want you to stop worrying over it. _He didn't say it, but Ryou could tell by the tone of Bakura's voice that he had to refrain from tacking on a 'because it's pissing me off' at the end.

Ryou instantly snapped the mind link shut so Bakura could no longer hear his thoughts, and seethed in silence. He was grateful that Bakura was nice to him most of the time now, but every once and a while his mood would completely flip and it would be like the old days where Bakura tormented him mercilessly. Ryou no longer feared his yami, but he hated when he was mean to him. He knew that it wasn't Bakura's fault, but Ryou was in no mood to deal with him right then.

Ryou knew that Bakura was equally as worried as himself deep down, but would never admit it. He figured that hearing Ryou's worries about Ellie had triggered his sudden bad mood, and Ryou once again kicked himself for not closing off the mind link when he was having private thoughts. It seemed that that was one of the main things that made Bakura mad lately.

The group stayed with Malik until they had to leave for History of Magic about twenty minutes later. Tensions were high because Malik and Harry's conversation had ended with an argument that Ryou had been too preoccupied to know what was about, and he was glad when they left. Malik seemed pretty pleased as well, partially because Harry was leaving, but mostly because he did not have to attend classes until he was well.

"And be sure to tell Umbridge I say hello!" He called sarcastically as they walked away. Ryou barely wondered how she was doing this morning, considering her quick trip to the Shadow Realm the night before.

He sighed. Ryou knew that he was going to have a very long day ahead of him.

**XXX**

**YUGI POV**

"Has Dark Magician found anything yet?" Ryou anxiously asked Yugi as soon as the bell rang dismissing them from History of Magic.

Yugi shook his head. "No, not yet, Ryou." He stood up and began gathering his things, hating the distress his poor friend was feeling. Ryou hadn't said a word since he had chastised Malik in the hospital wing, and Yugi hated to tell him no.

_He's going to worry himself sick, Yami._

_Maybe we should send him to the hospital wing for a calming drought, Aibou._

Yugi frowned. _He would never accept it. I guess that we're all just going to have to wait it out._

The rest of the morning went much like that. Ryou wouldn't say a word to anyone, unless he was asking Yugi if there was any news. The rest of the group's nerves were completely shot, both because of their own worries and the fact that the rest of the students were all asking after Ellie and Malik. None of them liked lying to their friends, so this made them constantly each other's throats. Yugi was about to rip his hair out in frustration by the time lunch came round.

"Ryou you have to eat something," Hermione coaxed gently. Yugi pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked over. None of them (except for Ron) had eaten much for breakfast, but the lack of food both that morning and the day before had taken it's toll, and they were all piling their plates high. But Ryou's dish remained empty.

"I'm not hungry," Ryou replied quietly, averting Hermione's eyes.

"Ryou, mate, you haven't eaten all day!" Ron said, pointing his fork accusingly at him.

"Really, it's fine. I'm not hungry."

Hermione frowned. "But -"

"Will you leave him alone?" Harry snapped. "He doesn't want to eat for Merlin's sake. It won't kill him."

Yugi was quite taken aback at Harry defending Ryou. Especially from Ron and Hermione. It was a big shock because Yugi was still not really sure where Harry stood with them: he seemed to trust them now, but he would still lash out every once and awhile.

Yugi was mentally preparing himself for the fight that was sure to ensue when he suddenly felt the Dark Magician call out for him. He set his fork down calmly.

"Guys," he said. Ryou's head swiveled swung around so fast that he must have gotten whiplash. "Dark Magician just called me."

"Kay," Ron mumbled through a mouth full of food. "Let's go!" He, grabbed as much food as he could carry, and with a few disgusted looked in his direction the group rushed out of the Great Hall.

"Where is he?" Ryou asked excitedly. "Did he find her?"

"I don't know," Yugi replied breathlessly. He was leading the way. He didn't quite know where he was going, but the Dark Magician's pull was definitely leading him in it's direction. "He just called out to me."

They all hurried up a flight of stairs, and down a long corridor. Yugi stopped in front of a girl's bathroom, feeling his face heat up.

"I can't go in -"

"You have got to be joking," Harry said flatly, before shoving past Yugi and into the bathroom. Ryou and Ron followed quickly behind, and Hermione turned to Yugi.

"It's alright, nobody uses this toilet."

"Why not?" Yugi asked quizzically.

"Oh, you'll see," Hermione said and walked through the door.

Yami gave Yugi a mental prod, and he reluctantly entered.

He was certainly shocked at what he saw. The Dark Magician was standing in front of a column of sinks, trying his best to remain dignified while the ghost of a young girl zoomed around the room in hysterics.

"Yugi and Ryou," Ron said dully. "Meet Myrtle."

"Is that Ellie's robe?" Ryou demanded the Dark Magician, ignoring the frantic ghost and running over to said garment. It was lying on the floor next to - "And her wand?!"

The Dark Magician nodded gravely, and Yugi likewise forgot about Myrtle and ran over to take a look at the articles lying on the floor.

Bakura phased out. "You can't be telling me that she disappeared in a bathroom," He said bluntly to the Dark Magician. He had to shout to be heard over Myrtle.

"This is where her trail ends," He said. Yami phased out, and the Dark Magician bowed to him. "My deepest apologies, master. I feel a great barrier preventing me from searching any further. I cannot be of any more assistance." He then disappeared.

"What?!" Ryou demanded. "You can't just leave!"

"No," Harry said, frowning. "This is the entrance to -"

"Harry Potter!" The ghost suddenly shrieked happily, apparently just noticing his presence now that she was no longer distracted by the Dark Magician. She stopped crying immediately. "You came to see me!"

"Er, not exactly, Myrtle." Harry muttered to the ghost as he fingered a tap on one of the sinks. She sniffled and dove down into a toilet, creating a great splash. Bakura cursed at her as water droplets soared through his body.

"Is it this one, Harry?" Ron, who had by that point joined Harry, asked. They both ignored Myrtle's theatric antics.

"Yeah."

"The right what?" Yugi asked Hermione.

She sighed. "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. It's in this bathroom."

Yugi gasped. He knew what the Chamber was, Neville had told all three of the transfers about it quite some time ago. But it didn't make sense: why would Ellie go down there? Especially alone?

Ryou quickly gathered up Ellie's things off of the floor and joined them. "She's down there?" He asked nervously.

"It would seem so," Yami replied.

"How do we open it?" Bakura asked.

"I would _not _go down there," Myrtle advised, suddenly appearing and hovering in front of Harry, pearly white tears glistening on her face. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses. "I was nearly attacked last night."

"Well that shouldn't matter anyway," Ron called over, snickering. "You _are _dead, you know."

"Oh, sure!" Myrtle shouted angrily, rounding on Ron. "Let's everybody pick on the _dead_ girl, shall we?! She won't mind! SHE'S DEAD!" Yugi jumped when he realized exactly _how _loud Myrtle's voice amplified in the large bathroom.

"Myrtle," He said gently, afraid that the moody ghost would round on him next. "What attacked you last night?"

She sniffled, but seemed to be quite enjoying the chance to retell her story. Yugi had to take a step back when she hovered very close to him, batting her eyelashes. "A big, scary monster." She pouted. "It was a very close call, Yugi."

Yugi took another step back, trying to simultaneously get away from Myrtle and decipher what she was saying.

"A monster?" Harry asked. "But the basilisk is dead."

Myrtle thankfully shifted her attention from Yugi and onto Harry then. "It wasn't the basilisk," she said. "First a strange man with a turban went down."

Yugi felt himself pale, and he didn't dare look at Ryou to see his reaction. "Did he have a golden key around his neck?" He asked.

Myrtle giggled. "He did! And that's exactly what Ellie said!"

"You saw Ellie?" Ryou demanded. "Was she okay?"

Myrtle nodded. "Yes. But she was very angry." She scowled. "I wonder if she's alright?"

"What happened?!"

Myrtle frowned. "My, you're an impatient one aren't you?"

"Myrtle!" Bakura snapped. "Do not tempt me!"

"Fine," She muttered. "I think Ellie said that man's name was Shadi. He went down into the Chamber, and Ellie ran here a few minutes after."

"And you told her that Shadi went down there?" Yugi asked.

Myrtle nodded.

"And she still went down?" Ryou asked.

Myrtle frowned. "Not willingly. That's when the monster came up and grabbed her."

The group gasped. "What monster?!" Ron asked.

"I don't know!" Myrtle snapped. "I didn't stick around long enough to see!"

"How do we get down there?" Ryou asked Hermione.

"Harry can open the entrance." She said.

"Well, go on!" Ryou ordered. "Do it!"

"I'm trying!" Harry snapped back, crouching down in front of a sink and staring intently at the tap that Ron was examining earlier. His face took on a look of intense concentration.

"How does it work?" Yami whispered to Hermione. Yugi looked over to listen in.

"You have to be a parsletongue to open it," Hermione said. "They're pretty rare."

Yugi and Yami both nodded. Neville had also explained the concept of speaking to snakes to the transfers as well, and they were familiar with this concept and the fact that Harry was one of the very few with the ability.

Poor Ryou looked as though he were going to explode with the pressure of waiting. But even in his agitated state he understood that Harry needed to concentrate, so he kept quiet.

It took a few minutes, and by that time even Yugi and Yami were near ready to hit their breaking points. But eventually Harry let out a series of hisses that caused Yugi to jump in alarm, and the Chamber began to open.

All of the sinks began to expand outwards, and one of the porcelain sinks slid down revealing an opening which led to a hole in the ground. A grate slid into place over the sunken sink, and Yugi, Ryou and Hermione gasped.

"That is," Hermione gulped, inching forwards and peering down. "A very long drop."

Harry shrugged. "It levels out into a slide."

"You mean to tell me that the three of you _jumped _down-"

"Merlin, no! We made Lockhart go first," Ron said with a slight snigger.

"Can we go now?" Ryou cut in. "Ellie could be _hurt_."

"I think that we should go get Dumbledore first," Hermione said nervously.

"There's no time!" Ryou exclaimed. "You can go and get him, but I'm going down there."

And with that, Ryou gathered Ellie's things to his chest protectively and stepped up to the entrance. He only hesitated long enough to pull out the Millennium Ring, and then he jumped. Yugi couldn't help but notice the very proud look on Bakura's face before he followed suit.

"Ryou?" Hermione called down the shaft anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" He replied. "I'm going to go ahead and -"

"Wait for us!" Yami called down. "Do not go ahead, it's too dangerous!"

Yugi knew that there was no time for him to hesitate as Ryou was unlikely to wait around long. So with a silent prod of encouragement from Yami, he stepped up and jumped.

Yugi resisted the urge to scream as he felt the air whoosh past his ears, and just prayed that the slope would level out like Harry had said.

It did quicker and less painfully than he expected, and soon Yugi found himself sliding down a cold and damp slide. The temperature dropped every second, and by the time the slide began to slow Yugi could see his own breath. When the slide unexpectedly ended and spat him out landed on his feet in a run to try to curb his momentum, and he somehow managed to stay upright.

The first thing that Yugi noticed about the small room was that he and Ryou both were standing on top of a small mountain of skeletons. They looked as though they were from small animals. He quickly skirted away to a section of the floor that wasn't covered, wincing as the bones crunched beneath his feet.

"Ugh!"

Bakura looked as though he were about to make a smart remark about Yugi's squeamishness, but thankfully he was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the group, who all came down in quick succession.

"Oh my goodness!" Hermione cried when she slid out of the slide. She quickly made her way over to the same bare patch of floor Yugi was on. He scooched over to give her room. "That's disgusting!"

"Then I suggest you close your eyes for the next bit," Harry said grimly, dusting the grime from the slide off of his robe. Yugi didn't particularly want to know what he meant by that, but followed nonetheless when Harry and Ron led the group around a bend and there they were met with the skin of the basilisk.

Yugi gasped again. It was _huge._ He figured that this monster could certainly rival the size of some of the biggest Duel Monsters. He quickly reached for his deck, keeping it ready in case he needed to defend his friends.

"_Damn," _Bakura said appreciatively. "And _you _defeated that, Potter?"

Harry scowled and nodded, not stopping. "Don't sound so surprised."

"This beast is huge," Yami said in equal amazement to Bakura as the group hurried by it. "I wonder how strong of an attack it could produce?"

"You don't have to worry about the attack," Ron said. "It's the eyes that kill you."

Hermione gulped nervously. "Are you sure it's dead, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Positive."

They continued on, meeting a wall of debris that looked as though it had been tossed aside by a very large monster. And, on top of that the place was crawling with Shadow Magic. Yugi could practically smell it. Yami instantly took over. Yugi was glad. He always felt better when Yami was in control.

"Whoa," Ron said, looking at the path carved through the mountain of rocks. "That wasn't there last time."

"There is Shadow Magic everywhere," Yami said.

"Bloody hell," he heard Ron gasp. "Warn us next time you want to do that, won't you?"

Yami bit back a smile, but otherwise ignored him. "It could be dangerous. You three should stay back while the Tomb Robber and I go first."

But when he looked over, Yugi noticed that Bakura had not taken over for Ryou. He thought that that was very strange, considering Bakura believed himself to be a much bigger threat to enemies than Ryou.

_Ryou won't let Bakura take over, Yami. I think he wants to do this himself._

Yami nodded. _It is truly a mark of how far the Tomb Robber has come, Aibou. Before he would have merely taken control without permission, but now he trusts Ryou to keep their body safe._

Yugi nodded mentally and watched as Yami somehow managed to actually climb the debris in a dignified way. Yugi was suddenly struck by how incredibly _royal_ Yami acted. He had always been incredibly dignified, but that was just _Yami. _Yugi had never associated it with his past life. It was funny, Yami had no memory of his reign as a pharaoh whatsoever but his old mannerisms had stuck with him. Old habits really do die hard, Yugi guessed.

Ryou followed closely behind, and Yugi saw that the others did not heed Yami's warning and were directly behind Ryou. He sighed mentally, but he didn't expect anything less of them. He knew that _he _would never stay behind when his friends were in danger, and didn't blame them for doing the same.

When they got through the rock debris, Yugi gasped at the sheer size of the cavern that they were in. It was massive. It was long, dark and narrow. Both Yugi and Yami couldn't help but think that it would be the _perfect_ location for a good duel. Well, maybe it would be if it didn't small so bad. Yugi wrinkled his nose, and looked around for the source of the smell. He nearly gagged when he saw the massive carcass of the basilisk out of the corner of his eye. He quickly averted his attention to the rest of the Chamber. At the end there was a huge statue of a man whose face he couldn't make out, but Yugi guessed was Salazar Slytherin, and lying at his feet was -

"Ellie!" Ryou cried, bolting forwards.

"Ellie!" Harry said, and Hermione let out a strangled gasp.

Yugi felt an incredible sense of dread wash over him. There was a small figure laying at the foot of the statue. Her back was to them, but there was no mistaking the curly hair. Yami ran after Ryou, and the only thing that both he and Yugi could think was that their friend was hurt.

Ryou reached her first, and Yugi watched as he rolled her onto her back and put an ear to her chest. He looked relieved when he sat up, then his relieved expression turned to one of horror.

Ron, Harry and Hermione reached her next. Their expressions mirrored Ryou's. Yugi was once again cursing the short Muto legs that he had been cursed with, because neither he or Yami knew what was going on.

When Yami finally reached Ellie, the first thing that they saw was that the poor girl was as pale as a ghost. She really _did _look dead, but her chest was rising and falling very slowly with her breathing. Yugi let out an enormous sigh of relief.

Her glasses had fallen off of her face and lay on the ground next to her. Yugi was worried about the cold. Even though it was _freezing_ down here, she was clad in only her uniform skirt and blouse. She had been down here for hours.

"Are those what I think they are?" Hermione frantically asked Yami, pointing at something gold in Ellie's arms.

Yugi felt the body seize up with shock. "The Scales!"

_And is that the Feather of Ma'at? _Yugi mentally pointed to a long, beautiful blue feather resting in Ellie's hand. Yami nodded grimly, and began trying to piece together exactly _what_ had happened here.

"Ellie?" Ryou asked gently, prying the Scales out of her arms. He lifted her up by the shoulders and shook her, but her body was limp.

Hermione placed her hand on Ellie's forehead. "She's so cold."

Ryou placed his ear to Ellie's chest again, and listened for a moment. "Her heartbeat is really slow." He said anxiously, thrusting the Scales in Yami's arms before quickly unraveling Ellie's bunched up robe and draping it over her.

"Here," Harry said, pulling out his wand. _"Rennervate," _He waved it over Ellie. She moaned and stirred a bit, but did not wake up. Harry frowned. "She won't wake." He said needlessly.

Ryou gently lifted her up off of the ground so she wasn't laying on the cold stone anymore, and adjusted the robe so it was covering her better. "I can carry her back up. She's really light."

"Ryou, wait," Bakura said. "We need to figure out what happened first. Why does she have those?" He pointed at the Scales in Yami's hands.

"Shadi," He said simply. Yugi had felt the gears grinding in Yami's head, and was not surprised when he instantly offered up an explanation. "He must have lured her down here and given them to her."

"It explains her dreams," Hermione added.

"Then why isn't she waking up?" Harry demanded, stepping closer to Ryou and examining Ellie. "What did he do to her?"

"He must have drained her energy," Yami explained. "Shadi usually puts new wielders through trials to be sure that they are suitable for the Items. They can be demanding." He didn't go into details. Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't know what these trials were like, and he didn't want them to worry any more than they already were.

"Then what was the monster that Myrtle kept raving about?" Harry asked.

Yami shook his head. "I am sorry, Harry. I do not know. We will have to wait for Ellie to wake to get the whole story."

"We should get her to the hospital wing," Hermione said anxiously. "She doesn't look too well, and keeping her here in this cold could make it worse."

Yami nodded his agreement, and was about to suggest Ryou let him summon a duel monster to carry Ellie for him when he was interrupted by Ron.

"Bloody hell! Guys, did you see _that_?" He gasped, pointing up at the statue.

"Oh, my," Hermione said, covering her mouth in shock.

Yami quickly averted his gaze to where Ron's finger was pointing, and he couldn't help but let out a gasp of his own. The statue of Salazar Slytherin that he had ignored moments ago was looming high above them, and imprinted onto his forehead was the Eye of Horus.

"Voldemort is Slytherin's descendent," Harry said, without missing a beat. "That means -"

"He will be able to wield a Millennium Item." Yami interrupted.

"And control the Shadows," Bakura added in angrily.

"It all fits, though!" Hermione said excitedly. "This must have been where Ellie saw the Eye of Horus before! She and Harry were in here in Second Year to save Ginny, and she must have seen it while Harry was fighting the basilisk! And-" She took her first breath since she began talking. "The sorting hat's song! It said that Slytherin departed for the Shadows!"

"_How _do you remember that?" Ron asked incredulously.

"We need to go see Dumbledore," Harry said. "He should know that Voldemort will be able to wield the Items."

Yugi agreed. They had all been hoping and praying that Voldemort would not have the ability to use the Millennium Items that he had acquired, but this news ruined their last shred of hope. Their best bet now was to tell Dumbledore as soon as possible, because the Order would need to be trained.

_It seems that Ellie will need to be trained as well, Yugi._

_Yeah, she will. I just hope that she'll be up for it when she wakes up._

As much as Yugi hated to say it, Ellie was in great danger now. It seemed that she was the new owner of the Scales, and she would certainly be in danger because of it. Both Voldemort and Marik would want what she has, and she would have to deal with all the other things that came with being an Item Wielder. They would have to teach her how to use the Scales, _and _how to control the Shadows without letting them control her, _and _how to duel. Yugi made a mental note to ask Grampa to send an assortment of cards over so that Ellie could build a deck.

Yugi looked over at Ryou. He was still holding Ellie, but her weight was obviously taking it's toll on him. She wasn't very heavy, but Ryou wasn't built for carrying unconscious girls around all day. He didn't look as though he could hold her much longer. But in spite of all that, he was staring down at Ellie's pale face sadly. Yugi knew that he must be devastated over this new development. Ryou was so determined to shelter Ellie from everything, and now that she had been dragged into their mess there really was no turning back.

He wondered what trial Shadi had put her through. He was proud to say that she _must_ have passed it, considering that she had the Scales. But Yugi remembered his own trial with a shudder, and just hoped that he hadn't put his friend through a similar ordeal.

"Yami, could you summon up a couple of monsters to get us out of here?" Hermione asked, breaking Yugi out of his thoughts.

Yami nodded, and in a flash both Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl were flanking the group. He quickly asked them to take them back to the surface, and picked up the remainder of Ellie's things. Dark Magician scooped up Ryou, Ellie and Harry while Dark Magician Girl grabbed Hermione, Ron and Yami. Bakura looked horrified at the idea of being carried by Yami's favorite monsters, so he instantly disappeared.

Ron, on the other hand, looked very pleased with the arrangements. He did not seem to mind being carried by Dark Magician Girl one bit. In fact, Yugi noticed that he seemed a bit red. He bit back a laugh.

The two Duel Monsters had them to the surface in no time, and when they got back to Myrtle's bathroom they were all relieved to see that she had left. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl both bowed to Yami after they had set down their cargo, and disappeared in a flash. Now that they were out of danger, Yugi retook control of the body.

The group hurried to make it to the hospital wing before class let out for dinner. They reckoned that explaining Ellie's unconsciousness might raise some suspicions, so they were anxious to get there in time. Ron offered to carry Ellie for poor Ryou, and he reluctantly handed her over. It was obvious that Ryou didn't want to let her go, but the poor boy couldn't carry her for much longer.

"So," Ron said, slightly breathlessly as he carried Ellie up some stairs. "What are we gonna tell Malik?"

Yugi shrugged. "The truth, I guess. He'll be happy to know that the Scales are in good hands, at least." He adjusted the straps of his book bag, which currently held both the Scales and the Feather of Ma'at.

"No," Ryou cut in for the first time in awhile. "She won't keep them. He can have them back."

"I don't think so, Ryou," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I think that Ellie just might want to keep-"

"She's not keeping them," Ryou said firmly. He sounded all the world like an overprotective father. "They're too dangerous."

"Oi!" Harry said angrily. "You can't just dictate -"

"It's for her own good." Ryou said firmly, shocking Yugi. He actually _defended_ himself in an argument, and he didn't even bat an eyelash against Harry, who was growing steadily angrier.

"Why don't we worry about it when she wakes up?" Yugi cut in before Harry could argue. They were about to enter the hospital wing, and he didn't want Malik to have to deal with them arguing. He may have appeared to be on the mend, but Yugi wasn't fooled: Malik still had a long ways to go before he was completely well again. He was worried enough about how what they were about to tell him would affect him

Ryou opened the door for Ron, who was still carrying Ellie, to pass through. The hospital wing was still empty, and the curtains were drawn around Malik's bed. Ron placed Ellie down on a bed and ran off to go and retrieve Madame Pomfrey, and Yugi hurried over to break the news to Malik. Ryou, Hermione and Harry remained by Ellie's side.

"Malik?" Yugi called through the curtains, before slowly drawing them aside. He yelped in shock at what he saw.

It was very disturbing: the small space dedicated to Malik was completely destroyed. Blankets were ripped to shreds, feathers from the pillow floated all around, glass potion vials were shattered all over the place, and all of the furniture was out of place. It looked like a miniature tornado had run through the place.

Malik was sitting right in the middle of it. His knees were pulled up to his chest, and he had his arms wrapped around his legs protectively. His hair was covered in feathers from the pillow, and his face was nearly as pale as it was the night before.

Yugi instantly ran to his friend's side. "What's wrong?" He demanded. Yami phased out next to him.

Malik looked at Yugi with wide eyes. They were red, as though he had been crying. But Malik's eyes were dry, and there was no other evidence that he had shed a single tear.

"They got them," Malik whispered. "Marik captured Isis and Rishid."

**XXX**

**Woohoo! This chapter's finally done! It took me sooo much longer than usual, and I feel like the weight of the world has just been lifted off of my shoulders. **

**I have been DYING to reveal the tweaks I made in the Sorting Hat's song. I totally could have done it last chapter, but Ellie isn't so much the type to remember exact lyrics months later. More of Hermione's thing.**

**So, what didya think? Hit me up with a little review-skies please. I promise I don't bite. : )**


	30. Chapter 30

**Well, hi there! I suppose that I am really alive: I bet some of you guys were wondering about me. I am very sorry about the 6 or 7 month wait, but I needed a break from this story and needed to focus on my schooling and blah insert another stupid excuse here. But now that school's out I have a lot more time to focus on this story! I won't lie to you: it took me about 2 weeks to write this itty bitty chapter and it hasn't even been betaed yet (I got too excited and couldn't wait), and if you noticed my profile update awhile back you've probably been wondering if I lied to you about updating soon. So I'm not yet back into the groove, but I am back! Don't expect me to turn into a freaking machine that updated several times a week like I was last summer, but I promise to give you at least one chapter a month (minimum).**

**Disclaimer: Really, if I could make money off of this don't you think I would be doing exactly that? I don't own anything, but if I did I would probably build a second Harry Potter theme park. In my backyard. Next to my Marik shrine. *sweat drop***

**Now, without further ado, I give you chapter 30!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 30**

"What a pleasure," Marik regarded the two kneeling forms in front of him both happily and angrily because he couldn't decide whether or not he was happy or angry to see them again. He decided that he should hate them for what they helped his _stupid hikari_ do to him but on the other hand they were his brother and sister and Marik didn't know what to think.

"Marik," Sister spat at him meanly daring to raise her head and look him in the eyes as though she believed them to be equals and Marik decided that even if he was happy to see her and Brother they needed to be punished for what they did to him.

"You will pay," Marik said back to her making his face smile evilly and he squeezed the Millennium Eye that was in his hand that he wasn't supposed to use yet. Lord Voldemort wanted the Millennium Eye for himself which only made Marik mad and he wanted the Millennium Eye now because he didn't want Voldemort to have it and he knew it wouldn't work properly anyway unless it was implanted into his eye but Marik didn't want to make Voldemort angry yet especially since he couldn't teach him how to use either of the Millennium Items.

Marik looked to Miss Bella who had helped him capture Brother and Sister and smiled at her telling her that she had his permission to begin their torture because he wasn't supposed to do it himself until Lord Voldemort got here. Marik wanted to do it himself but Lord Voldemort said that his powers were too strong and he needed Brother and Sister to be able to help him learn how to use the Millennium Eye and Necklace because he said he didn't want Marik inside his head because he was too strong for that too. Nagini the snake was slithering and watching and slithering and watching and Marik knew that she would tell Lord Voldemort if Marik broke any of his rules.

Lord Voldemort made Marik very angry.

"_Crucio,"_ Miss Bella raised her wand with a happy look on her face that made Marik happy and cast her spell onto Sister which made her scream and cry and Brother roared in anger and lunged at Miss Bella but a minion who Marik thought was named Dolohov cast a spell on him to hold him down.

Even though Marik was very angry at Lord Voldemort he laughed in glee and couldn't resist opening the mind link to his _stupid hikari _to show him what was happening even though Lord Voldemort told him to keep it a secret.

Marik felt the anger and sadness coming from Malik but he didn't listen to the words that he was yelling at him because he was too busy laughing and laughing because now Miss Bella was casting her torturing spells onto Brother who was screaming and Sister was yelling at them to stop and it was very amusing. Marik felt his hikari scream for help in the castle he was in miles and miles and miles away and felt a small little bit of fear because he remembered that this was supposed to be a secret and he shut the mind link and hoped that Nagini the snake and Miss Bella didn't notice that he had broken Lord Voldemort's rules.

**xxx**

"She looks cold," Ryou repeated for the third time that day. He stood up and pulled the blanket higher up on Ellie's still unconscious form. He proceeded to lay the back of his hand on her forehead in an attempt to feel if her temperature was off in any way.

"Ryou, mate, she's going to be fine." Ron said exasperatedly. "Madame Pomfrey said that it'll take a few days for her to wake up."

Ryou sighed, and nodded. "I hope you're right." He reluctantly removed his hand and turned so he could check on Malik, who was in the bed immediately next to Ellie.

Malik looked even better than he had the morning before, before he found out that Marik and Voldemort had kidnapped his only family. The calming draught that Madame Pomfrey had practically dumped down his throat had curbed his frantic and arguably insane behavior instantly. If Ryou hadn't have known better, he would have sworn that Malik was only checked into the hospital wing because of the nasty wound on his face which had yet to heal.

Malik was propped up against a number of stark white pillows in his bed, and he had barely moved an inch since McGonagall had given the order to administer him a calming draught the night before. Hermione was making sure that he was taking a new calming draught every hour, and while he resisted at first he now gladly downed each new refill. The entire group had been sitting with him for nearly twenty four hours. Hermione looked the worse out of the group, as she had been perched on Malik's bed the whole time allowing him to clutch painfully at her hand. It was the only sign that the boy was distressed. Ryou worried what Malik would do if Hermione tried to leave his side.

"Are you hungry, Malik?" Yugi asked his friend, as he rose from his chair on Malik's right bedside and took a few steps closer. "You never ate supper with the rest of us. I can ask Madame Pomfrey if you can have anything."

"No, thank you." Malik said quietly, looking straight ahead. "Not until Isis and Rishid are safe."

When Ryou and the others had returned to the hospital wing the night before with Ellie after retrieving her from the Chamber of Secrets, Yugi had found Malik sitting in the destroyed remains of what was his bed. In an attempt to vent his fear and frustration, he had somehow managed to reach his magic without the Rod or his wand and tear apart the few feet of space he was staying in. Malik had long since informed Dumbledore of how he had seen the capture and torture of his siblings. Dumbledore had of course sent out a rescue team, the second one in as many days that he himself went on. It was long gone by the time that Ryou and the others had found Ellie.

Ryou knew that the Order was doing their best to find Isis and Rishid, but he also figured that Voldemort needed them. Marik was having a difficult time teaching Lord Voldemort how to master the Millennium Items. So they both believed that two of their former protectors would be able to train him in the art of wielding the Shadows. Lord Voldemort needed Isis and Rishid, and he couldn't afford to have them taken away from him.

That was a huge matter of comfort to everyone sitting in the hospital wing at that very moment. Lord Voldemort would not kill them until he got what he wanted, and Ryou and Yugi knew as well as Malik that his siblings would not easily submit to Voldemort. They had time on their side, no matter how torturous it was to both the group sitting safely in the hospital wing and to Isis and Rishid themselves.

_If we are looking on the bright side, _Bakura's voice floated into Ryou's head as his translucent form standing at the foot of Ellie's bed looked up to meet Ryou's eyes. _Then one of us should point out that we outnumber Voldemort. We have 4 Millennium Items while they only have 2._

_I don't think he wants to hear it, Koe._ Ryou replied, sighing. _Besides, I doubt that Ellie is going to keep the Scales. I think we should start looking for another wielder._

Bakura's voice definitely had an irritated twinge to it when he answered. _Ryou, do I need to remind you that it is not your decision? Elizabeth is perfectly capable of deciding for herself. _Before Ryou could argue further, Bakura added: _Besides, rejecting a Millennium Item could be far worse for her than accepting it could ever be. _He let the threat of that statement hang over Ryou's head.

Angry, Ryou snapped the mind link shut and resumed his seat in between Malik and Ellie's beds. Ryou had never considered that. He was solely focused on what Ellie would be put through on the path to wielding the Scales. But what Bakura said weighed heavily on Ryou's mind: Shadi was not a forgiving man. Once he decided that she was the true wielder, he would likely do whatever it takes to have Ellie accept the Scales or to punish her for not accepting them. He had proven himself quite capable of getting to her without even Ryou, Bakura, Yugi, Yami or Malik figuring it out. Ryou tried not to think about what Shadi could do to Ellie, but the possibilities ran rampant through his head anyway. Shadi had the power to change her from the kind girl that he had met a few months ago to a ruthless monster who desired nothing but power. He could even threaten to go after her family and friends if she did not abide to his will. He could send her to the Shadow Realm. He could even kill her. Or worse.

Thankfully, Ryou's train of thought was interrupted when both Harry and Malik gasped loudly.

Harry's glasses were knocked to the ground as his hand clapped to his scar, and his gasp quickly turned into a hiss of pain. Malik roughly pushed Hermione away and jumped out of bed, leaving Ryou the job of catching her before she hit the ground.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, straightening up and grabbing Malik's shoulders tightly, holding him at arms length and effectively preventing him from continuing his attempt to grab Ryou's backpack. They all knew that that was where the Millennium Rod was currently stashed, and Malik should not be in control of such a powerful item in his present state. Malik gave up trying to reach the rod, straightening up. He didn't answer, his eyes seeing some far away scene that was a mystery to the rest of them.

Ryou quickly tossed his backpack to Ron, who was currently the furthest away from Malik and stepped in between Malik and Hermione in case Malik decided to get violent in favor of the trance he had just fallen into. He noticed that Yami had taken over for Yugi and was quickly by his side. But Hermione gave up trying to get Malik's attention and instead turned to Harry, who had picked up his glasses and straightened up. He looked pale, but in better shape to answer questions than Malik.

"Harry?" Hermione asked. "What's happening?"

Ryou took barely a second to remember that Harry had nearly as much insight as Malik to what was going on with Lord Voldemort.

"The Order found them," He breathed excitedly. "Voldemort is furious that Marik gave it away. He and Dumbledore fought for a bit, but he quickly apparated away with Marik and the Millennium Items."

"Isis and Rishid?" Yami asked.

"I can't see anymore," Harry replied, shaking his head. "But they were left behind with a few death eaters. The Order should be able to take care of them."

"Why did he leave them behind?" Ron asked, slowly setting down Ryou's backpack. "I mean, You-Know-Who reckons that they're the only ones that can help, right? Shouldn't he have taken them with him?"

"Not necessarily," Hermione answered slowly. "Maybe they didn't help him at all."

"They didn't," Malik snapped at her, shocking everyone that he had spoken at all. Ryou tried to recall the last time he had taken a calming draught, because it's effects were seemingly starting to wear off. "Marik only let me see a few seconds of the fight just now, but I know that they never cracked. My brother and sister would never submit to him."

"Of course not, Malik! I didn't meant it like that," Hermione anxiously said to him. "I just meant that maybe You-Know-Who has somebody else in mind."

"You mean someone else to train him on the Millennium Items?" Ron asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You don't suppose..."

"Shadi?" Bakura asked, and Ryou felt his head swivel around to look at his yami. "Impossible. Voldemort will not be able to find, let alone capture Shadi."

"I'm not so sure about that," Hermione said thoughtfully. "The ministry has found a way to track any trace of _our _magic, why should the Shadows be any different? And Merlin knows what they've been working on in the Department of Mysteries. You-Know-Who has spies there too! Remember when Harry and Ellie saw Lucius Malfoy in the hallway? They could have already -"

"No, Hermione," Yami cut her thoughts off unapologetically. "You are underestimating the Shadows, Shadi will not be found."

"And _you're_ underestimating _our_ magic!" Hermione replied hotly, her cheeks tinting red from her anger. "No doubt Voldemort is already _working_ on a way to counter Shadow Magic, and when that happens you'll all be in big trou -"

"Hermione, you think too much," Bakura interrupted coldly, rolling his eyes. Ryou had to agree. While the magic wielded by all of the people Ryou has met in the past few months was certainly dangerous, he did not believe that it was truly a match for their Shadow Magic. After all, they had really only come to Hogwarts as a precaution.

"There is nothing wrong with planning ahead," Hermione snapped, crossing her arms huffily.

"Hermione's right," Harry added loudly, trotting around Ellie's bed to get to the action and stand by his friend's side. "I've seen what Voldemort and his Death Eaters can do, I don't think that you guys fully appreciate what _he _is capable of. He will stop at nothing to take you three down."

"When it comes down to our magic against yours, I think what happened to Elizabeth is a clear example of who is stronger," Bakura said, rolling his eyes. "And if it wasn't for _our _magic, we would never have found her."

"Oi! That's not true!" Ron said. "Shadi lured her down there like a coward, Ellie didn't even have her wand to protect herself!"

"I am not so sure that it would have made a difference, regardless," Yami added coolly. "Shadi's Shadow Magic could have easily overpowered her. It was probably best that she could not attack him, it could have ended much worse."

"That is not true! Shadi didn't want her to be able to attack him because he was afraid of what Ellie can do," Harry shot back. "And if it wasn't for _your _magic, she would never have gotten attacked in the first place!"

Ryou felt another twinge of guilt, and sat down again. He looked over to the slumbering girl in question and again wished that this whole thing had never happened.

"Potter, you are going to wish that you never-" Bakura began to threaten Harry, but he was interrupted by a pissed off Malik.

"Will you lot SHUT UP?" He demanded from behind Yami. He had sat back down on his bed, and Ryou felt bad that they had all forgotten him in their argument. After all, he was the one who was hurting the most right at that moment. "I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my brother and sister. In case you idiots forgot, _they've been kidnapped and tortured_ for the past twenty four hours."

Hermione hurried to his side and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Malik. Do you want me to get you a fresh calming draught?"

Malik shook his head, irritated. "No way. It keeps me from thinking straight." He gave Hermione a weird look. "And do you have to sit so close? It's bloody _hot _in here."

Hermione flushed and scooted away, scowling.

"What's going on?" Ryou asked, glad that the argument was over, but once again questioning Malik's mental state. He noted that with the exception of Bakura, who was now perched on the edge of Ellie's bed, everyone looked quite ashamed of themselves for fighting with each other. Yami phased out and relinquished control to Yugi, then actually sat next to Bakura. Yugi quietly resumed his own seat next to Ryou, and he shot Ryou a look that told him that his thoughts mirrored his own.

"Nothing, really," Malik replied dully. "Voldemort got pissed and left to talk to his snake. Marik's just sitting there trying to figure out if he's angry or happy." He shrugged, and ran his hands over his face in frustration.

"But Voldemort isn't really that mad anymore," Harry said, rubbing his scar. "I think he just _might_ have other plans."

Ryou felt rather than saw Bakura roll his eyes.

"I guess that we'll have to just wait and see," Ryou said, more to himself and Bakura than to anybody else.

"So when do you all reckon Dumbledore will send wo - bloody hell!" Ron gasped as a flame suddenly appeared over Ellie's slumbering form, and when it burnt out a folded up piece of parchment attached to what could only have been a phoenix feather floated down to rest on her stomach.

"It's from Dumbledore!" Yugi gasped excitedly, jumping up. Bakura unthinkingly grabbed for the note, but his fingers ghosted right through it. Even though their mind link was still closed, Ryou could feel a small twinge of sadness from his yami. He tried not to react, as he didn't want Bakura to know he had felt it. Instead Ron grabbed the note, and began to unfold the parchment. Everyone waited with bated breath.

"He says that they're safe, Malik!" Ron cried, and the group broke out into relieved laughter.

"Thank God," Hermione said, placing a hand over her heart and exhaling a huge breath.

Ryou looked at Malik, who looked like he was ready to sob with relief. "What else?" He asked, standing and taking a few steps towards Ron.

"He said that they only have minor injuries, but he's taking them to Saint Mungo's to get checked out just in case," Ron looked up and frowned. "Merlin, he's taking muggles to Saint Mungo's?"

"What's Saint Mungo's?" Ryou asked confusedly. He thought that he had gotten a grasp on most of the wizarding world, but every so often someone mentioned something that he didn't know.

"It's the wizarding hospital," Ron said. "I've never heard of them admitting muggles before, though."

"Is it safe?" Yugi asked nervously.

"Should be," Hermione replied thoughtfully. "You-Know-Who wouldn't dare trying to get to them while they were surrounded by dozens of witches and wizards."

"So does it say when I can see them?" Malik demanded. Ron looked down and reread the letter.

"Uh, no, mate, it doesn't," He muttered, recoiling in anticipation of what he believed Malik's reaction to be.

"Well that's alright," Malik said cheerfully, throwing them all. He dodged Hermione and crawled back into his bed. "I'll ask Dumbledore in the morning."

"You will?" Ryou asked incredulously. He had expected Malik to pitch a fit and put them through hell to keep him in bed: but once again the Egyptian had surprised him by doing the exact opposite. Ryou supposed that it would be different in the morning if Dumbledore said that he couldn't go, which was, Ryou thought, very likely as well.

"Yep," Malik said, snuggling under his blankets further. "I think I'm going to go to sleep now. You guys should go too."

"Are you sure, Malik?" Yugi asked, seemingly not believing that Malik was being rational either. Maybe his calming draught hadn't worn off after all, Ryou thought.

"Do you want one of us to stay here with you?" Ryou asked.

"That's not necessary," He replied. "Go get some sleep. Don't worry, I'll take care of Ellie."

"Malik…" Ryou said uncomfortably. He had a nasty feeling that he was up to something.

"If you guys don't believe me, then I'll take a sleeping potion!" He said, sitting up again. "Poppy?" He called.

Bakura and Yami quickly disappeared.

"That's Madame Pomfrey to you, Ishtar," the healer in question chastised, walking in and wagging an affectionate finger at the boy. "Are you ready for some sleeping potion now?"

She eyed the rest of the group disapprovingly. She had tried to order them all out from the get go, but McGonagall took pity on the friends and gave them special permission to keep Malik company in his time of distress. Madame Pomfrey was good with not asking too many questions about why they all were so adamant about staying with Malik, and why he needed so many calming draughts in the first place. For that Ryou was grateful.

"Yes, please," Malik said and downed the potion. The group stuck around until he was out like a light. Ryou still couldn't believe that Malik was true in his intent to spend the night sleeping while his siblings and only family were being checked into the hospital, but he had watched him take the sleeping potion and conk out. There was no way that he would be conscious until the potion wore off, which would come in about 8 hours.

Ryou sighed. He checked on Ellie one last time, smoothing a stray curl from her face and followed the others when they left for Gryffindor tower.

**xxx**

**Like I said, it was short! I had this chapter planned out before I decided to take my hiatus so please don't get mad at me for such a boring chapter after you waited so long!**

**Also, yay or nay on the crazy Marik POV? I **_**love **_**writing it, but I'm never quite sure if it's conveying the same effect as it is in my crazy twisted brain.**

**Please review! I'd rather have 1 review over a million favorites, and really it was a couple of reviews that really kicked my ass into gear and made me **_**want **_**to write this story again. It makes me happy to know that I'm not just shouting all of these words to an empty audience. **

**On a side note, I found a beta who is going to look through and help me fix up every chapter preceding this one because this story needs **_**work**_**. It will probably take awhile, and there may be some big changes, but nothing drastic that will effect the plot/characters. I'll add a note to the beginning of the chapters as I repost them, and I might even let you all know of my progress in the AN of the next few chapters. If you really like the chapters the way they are, I suggest you save them for your own records.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Well, hello again! Out of guilt for the uneventful chapter that I gave you guys last week, I decided to write this monster. It's so long, in fact, that I actually cut it short. I intended to include two more scenes in this chapter, but I had to stop myself because it was getting out of hand. **

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is Ellie + some plot points. Believe me, if I owned more I wouldn't be here, I would be too busy earning a big fat profit for my wonderful beautiful magnificent creations.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 31**

Ellie slowly opened her eyes, quietly groaning from a headache that felt like it was drilling a hole straight through her skull. She felt as though she had been asleep for a million years, and was confused as to where and when she was. The bed she was in felt different somehow, but it was dark and she was truly only half awake. She barely registered that her mouth was as dry as the Sahara desert.

Groggily sitting up, Ellie felt multiple joints creak and bones crack as her body moved for the first time in Merlin knows how long. The darkness pushed in on her, and the fact that she wasn't wearing her glasses made her vision all the worse. It was a big room, she could tell that much, but there was something sanctioning her off from the rest of it.

Still confused, Ellie rubbed some sleep out of her eyes and leaned over to a blurry form next to her bed that looked as though it could be a nightstand. She patted it down in the hopes of finding her glasses. Ellie took in a quick intake of breath when her blind searching caused her to knock over what felt like a glass vase, and it shattered when it hit the ground. She flinched as the clatter pounded at her aching head, and stilled her hand for a moment so she could adjust to the echoing noises. Nothing else stirred, making Ellie think that she was alone in the room.

When the echoing finally stopped, she slowly inched her fingers across the table, and her hand came into contact with her glasses. She muttered a silent _thank you _to whoever was listening and slid them onto her face. Unfortunately her wand was nowhere to be found. She would have liked some light.

Still confused, but not nearly as much as she was when she initially woke up, Ellie took in her surroundings. She was in the hospital wing with a curtain hiding her and what looked like another bed in a corner. She furrowed her brow: she had no idea why she was here. Could it have something to do with this headache? Maybe she had caught a bludger in the head during a Quidditch practice?

Mindful of the broken glass and still not able to see clearly because of the dark, Ellie slipped out of bed in hopes of finding a glass of water or somebody that could tell her what was going on. The ground was like ice on her bare feet, and she wrapped her arms around herself in hopes of keeping warm. Her thin nightgown only reached her knees, and it barely provided any warmth. It was nearly December, Ellie knew that much, and it was a very cold night.

She tiptoed past the curtain and slowly inched her way towards what she remembered to be the hospital wing's lavatory. She was careful not to bump into any beds. When she got into the bathroom Ellie turned the flame up on an oil candle that was burning, and winced at the sudden assault that the light wreaked on her pounding headache. She quickly turned the candle down so it was just light enough to allow her to see her surroundings, but it still burned her eyes.

Squinting, Ellie shielded her eyes and waited for them to adjust. After a few moments they finally did, and Ellie started when she looked up to see a pale, sickly reflection staring back at her. She looked _very_ ill. Maybe she was in here for more than just a concussion? Ellie poked at one of the bags under her eyes, wondering again what was wrong with her. She splashed some cold water on her face, and gulped a few mouthfuls of water straight from the tap. It helped her headache some, but it still pounded painfully at her skull.

When she was finished, Ellie located a candlestick and lit it off of the flame of the oil candle. She wanted to be able to see on her way back to her bed, especially now that her eyes had adjusted to the harsh light she didn't want to have to wait for them to adjust back. She dimmed the light in the bathroom and made her way back to the far corner of the hospital wing.

The light shining onto the unoccupied beds of the hospital wing confirmed that it was indeed empty, but it made Ellie curious as to why her bed was sanctioned off. Why did they need to hide her? There was nobody else in here, and she certainly didn't have any gruesome injuries.

Ellie was confused and wanted to look for Madame Pomfrey to ask why she was here, but her exhaustion and the coldness of the hospital wing made her desperate need to get back to her warm bed win out. She quickly trotted over, hand shielding the flame. Besides, it was the middle of the night and she didn't want to wake her up. She wasn't too worried at this point, Ellie knew that if something terrible had happened to her then she would have remembered.

Ellie slipped past the curtain, and she jumped nearly three feet in the air when she saw that the second bed in her little corner was indeed occupied. She pressed a hand to her racing heart. The figure had it's back to her, and it's messy blonde hair looked as though it could have been Malik's. It was then that Ellie finally began to worry about what had happened.

"Hello?" She whispered shakily. There was no way that the person was still sleeping after she had shattered that vase. Ellie tiptoed around the bed and saw that it _was_ Malik occupying it. And he was fast asleep, albeit with a worried expression on his face.

"Malik?" Ellie whispered, reluctant to wake him up yet wanting to know what exactly was going on. She gently shook his shoulder. The blankets slid down his shoulders a little bit, but he did not wake. She noticed that there was an empty vial of blue potion on his bedside. She picked it up and examined it closer. It looked like sleeping potion. That must have been why he wouldn't wake up, but it only tugged at her nerves further. Why did Malik need a sleeping potion? What was going on?

She sighed. Maybe it was best to just go back to sleep and wait until morning to figure out what had happened to them. She made to pull the blankets back up on the sleeping boy, but a red mark on his cheek caught her eye. Ellie pushed his hair back off of his face, and gasped.

There was an angry, half-healed gash on his face. It was _huge_. It stretched from just under his eye to all the way below his chin. Ellie tentatively reached out and touched it, and felt a particularly painful jab at her headache when her fingers made contact. She covered her mouth with her other hand, and just stared with wide eyes for a moment.

Finally coming back to her senses, Ellie was again going to pull the blankets back up on the boy when she had a sudden urge to pull them down. She didn't know why, but she felt as though that would be the right thing to do. So she did, flushing a bit when she realized that Malik was sleeping shirtless. But because of this, it gave her a full view of the tanned, massacred flesh that was his back. She rolled him onto his stomach.

When she saw Malik's scars, it all came back to Ellie.

She backed up a few feet, thankfully finding a chair and sitting down hard, staring at his scars.

She remembered everything. Malik running off and getting kidnapped. Voldemort setting Marik free. The tortured, insane Malik that returned. And finally, Ellie remembered the monster, _her monster_, Ammit, dragging her down into the depths of the Chamber of Secrets where Shadi told her that it was her destiny to wield the Millennium Scales.

"_Oh God,"_ Ellie whispered, setting the candlestick down with shaking hands so she could bury her face in them.

No wonder she had that headache, Ellie knew that it was an effect of her untrained body being an outlet for the Shadows. She choked on a few soundless sobs, with strangely no tears falling from her eyes.

Ellie sat like that for what felt like hours, not even feeling the cold anymore. It barely registered when the candle finally burnt out, once again bathing the small space in darkness. But at that point the sky outside the window was becoming a dark dark blue instead of black, and Ellie began to feel her exhaustion once again.

She forced herself to stand up and replaced the covers back on Malik's body. Ellie had known about what Malik's father had inflicted on him, but she had never seen the damage herself. Even his roommates, Harry and Ron said that the boy never showed them. It was certainly a shock, even without all the memories coming back to her. Ellie felt bad when she saw small goose bumps on his skin from the cold, and gave his back an affectionate pat as way of an apology. She laughed bitterly to herself, wondering what Malik would say had he known she had been staring at his half naked form for the past few hours.

She made her way back to bed. Ellie wondered who had found her, and how. She had probably been laying on the hard stone floor of the Chamber of Secrets for hours. For some reason, that made her really mad. She frowned into the night as she crawled under the covers.

Thinking of the cold, damp air of the Chamber, Ellie was finally able to register the cold again, and pulled the blankets higher up on her chest. She shivered violently, but even still it didn't take her long to fall back into a deep sleep.

**xxx**

**Bakura POV**

"Hey guys!" Malik called cheerfully, poking his head around the curtains the second that Ryou and the others walked into the hospital wing. Bakura was taken aback: Malik was happy?

There was nobody around, so he figured it was okay to phase out. "What has you so chipper this morning, Ishtar?" He asked skeptically, eyeing Malik. He was fully dressed.. Ryou, who was still a little irritated at him from the day before, nudged him for being so blunt with Malik. Bakura shrugged.

"Two things," Malik grinned as they rounded the curtain. He took a seat next to Elizabeth's bed. Ryou's worried gaze, Bakura noticed, instantly fell onto her pale face. She was still sleeping, and Bakura felt a twinge of disappointment coming from Ryou. He forced himself not to roll his eyes.

"Well tell us then!" Hermione urged.

"First of all, Dumbledore said that the three of us can go visit Isis and Rishid today," Malik gushed, gesturing towards Ryou and Yugi. "Or five of us, I guess." He laughed happily, looking pointedly at Bakura.

"Wow Malik, that's great!" Yugi said, smiling. Malik grinned happily and thumped Yugi on the back, hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Doubling over, he coughed.

"Malik…" Yami said, phasing out. Bakura almost laughed himself when he saw that the pharaoh was torn between defending his hikari and laughing at his suddenly high spirited friend.

"What was the other bit of good news?" Harry asked, grinning as well and helping Yugi stand up straight.

"Ellie woke up last night!" He replied, laughing.

"She did?!" Hermione squealed excitedly, rushing to the girl's side. Bakura felt a sudden spark of hope ignite within Ryou, who grinned happily and stood taller than he had done in days. He had to admit that he was glad Elizabeth was getting better himself. He was anxious to find out what had really happened in the Chamber of Secrets.

"How do you know?" Ron asked, waving a hand in front of Elizabeth's face. She didn't stir. "She still looks pretty unconscious to me."

"When I woke up this morning there was a bunch of broken stuff around here," Malik replied, chuckling. "And she was wearing her glasses."

"So you never actually spoke to her?" Ryou asked dejectedly. Bakura knew he was desperate to know what had happened to her as well.

"Nah, but she must have been feeling well enough to go to the loo," Malik said. "She brought the candlestick back here, must have been awake for awhile. Look!" He pointed to a small nub of a burnt out candle sitting on his nightstand. "Guess she was watching me sleep." He shrugged and winked teasingly at Ryou, which irritated him and made Bakura laugh.

_It would seem as though Ishtar is feeling like his old self again, wouldn't you say so, Ryou?_

_Hmpf,_ Ryou mentally grunted irritably. But Bakura knew it was only halfhearted, Ryou knew that Malik was only teasing. Also, Bakura could feel how much better his hikari felt now that they knew for sure all of their friends would be well soon.

"How are you feeling, Malik?" Yami asked, interrupting Bakura's train of thought. "Are you sure that you're up to making that trip today?"

"I'm fine!" Malik replied quickly. Bakura saw a quick flash of anger in his eyes, but it must have went unnoticed by everyone else. "Will you guys come with me?" He asked quickly after, looking from Yugi to Ryou.

Yugi nodded eagerly. "Of course I will!"

Malik looked at Ryou, who hesitated. Bakura knew he was torn between supporting Malik when he saw his family and wanting to be there when Ellie woke up, because it looked like today would be the day that she would finally be able to talk to them.

_Go with Ishtar, _Bakura urged. _Elizabeth will still be here when you get back. _

_But what if she has questions?_ Ryou replied frantically, forever sounding like an overbearing parent. _And what if Shadi comes back? She shouldn't stay here unprotect-_

_She will be fine, Ryou._ Bakura interrupted. _She won't be alone when she wakes up. Her friends won't leave her side. _

Oops. That was the wrong thing to say, Bakura realized as soon as he said it. He didn't mean it like that, but Ryou thought that he was implying that he wasn't her friend. He felt a sting of hurt coming from him. Bakura was torn between anger at himself for saying such a stupid thing and annoyance at his hikari for being so sensitive. He knew that Ryou was still quite wary of him ever since Bakura had lost control and attacked him, and Bakura tried to take that into consideration and let it slide.

"Ryou?" Malik asked, his smile flickering for a second.

_Go,_ Bakura urged, trying his best to ignore his earlier blunder. _Elizabeth will be perfectly fine. We will take the scales with us so nobody has any reason to come after her, and we will come see her the moment we get back to Hogwarts. I promise._

Ryou sighed mentally, reluctantly giving in. After all, Malik had been his friend for a lot longer than Elizabeth had ever been. And Ryou knew that he needed his support just as much as Elizabeth did.

He smiled at Malik. "Sure, I'll come with you."

"You guys are the best, I swear," Malik laughed, rushing over and giving Ryou a hug. Ryou flushed red, but smiled at his friend nonetheless.

"When were you talking to Dumbledore anyway?" Harry asked, furrowing his eyebrows and looking annoyed for some reason. "Was he here? Did you tell him about Ellie?"

"No, he's still at St. Mungo's watching over my brother and sister," Malik replied. "McGonagall passed the message on."

"Oh," Harry said, avoiding everyone's gazes and instead fixing his eyes on the floor.

"Harry, are you -" Hermione began, but ended her sentence in a loud squeak when the curtains were ripped open. Bakura jumped, and quickly resumed his composed posture before anyone could see. It was McGonagall, but both yamis were standing out in the open and it was obvious that she saw them.

"What the hell?" He demanded of her angrily.

"I'm here to take you three to St. Mungo's," McGonagall said, pursing her lips at Bakura's language. "Don't look so stunned, Mr. Bakura, do you think I've never seen a spirit before?"

For once in his very long life, Bakura was at a loss for words. Did the old man tell?

"H-how did you -" Ryou stammered.

"I suggest you two make yourselves scarce," McGonagall continued on, ignoring Ryou and eyeing Yami's translucent form. "That wo- I mean, Professor Umbridge will be down at any moment. I want us to be long gone before that happens, though." She angrily muttered something under her breath that Bakura didn't quite catch, but made him grin evilly nonetheless.

"As you wish," Yami said and disappeared. Bakura did the same. He hadn't seen Umbridge since he had sent her to the Shadow Realm, and he wondered what effect that had had on her. Ra knows what she had seen during her brief stay. He couldn't help from mentally grinning.

McGonagall nodded, as though she were agreeing with herself. "Well, come along then." She turned tail to leave, when she suddenly stopped as though she had second thoughts. "And for Merlin's sake you three," she looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione sharply. "Do not give her reason to be any more suspicious than she already is."

The three nodded sheepishly.

"And Miss Granger?" She added.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Professor Umbridge believes that Miss Milton has fallen ill due to a muggle ailment called apennit, I mean appendids-"

"Appendicitis?" Hermione suggested helpfully.

"Yes dear. I'm sure that she has looked into the illness, so please make it convincing."

"Yes, Professor."

The three transfers waved goodbye to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ryou, Bakura noticed, forced himself not to look at Ellie's face. He didn't want his resolve to crumble. They followed McGonagall out of the hospital wing and up to her office.

**xxx**

**Harry POV**

"Do you guys reckon that Dumbledore is avoiding me on purpose?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione the moment that the three transfers were out of earshot. He wanted to make this conversation quick: Umbridge was on her way down.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

Harry sighed, and frustratedly ran a hand through his hair. His scar had been twitching on and off ever since yesterday, and to put it nicely he wasn't in the best of moods. He wasn't looking forward to dealing with Umbridge. "I mean that _all_ year he hasn't looked me in the eye, he's been pushing me away and -"

"When has he pushed you away?" Hermione interrupted, to his annoyance.

"Well the first time was when Malik ran off," Harry replied. "Dumbledore said okay and kicked us out, let me finish!" Harry snapped when Hermione opened her mouth to interrupt again. She looked hurt, but Harry continued. "Obviously he needed to contact the Order so I didn't think too much of it then." Harry looked around anxiously to check for Umbridge. "But when Ellie went missing he _definitely _was avoiding my gaze, and don't you think that he could have done a lot more to help find her?! And bloody hell, why isn't he here now? Don't you think that Ellie and the rest of Hogwarts needs his protection more than Malik's brother and sister?" He breathed in deeply.

"Well mate," Ron said uncomfortably. "I don't think it's just you that he is avoiding, it sounds like he's just trying to get rid of all of us."

"No, it isn't!" Harry snapped loudly. "I _know _Dumbledore, and he won't come near _me._ I've been having these dr-"

"Maybe he's just got a lot on his mind," Hermione said reasonably. "He's a very busy man and to be perfectly honest I don't think that you're seeing the big picture he-"

"NO!" He yelled furiously, jumping out of his seat and taking a step towards Hermione's shrinking form. He was sick of her interrupting him. "Why can't you lot ever just listen to me and take me seriously?!"

"Mr. Potter, I suggest you lower your voice before you wake up your dear little friend here," Umbridge interjected, smiling sweetly.

"Oh, it's you," Harry said irritably, suddenly feeling ashamed for his outburst. He sat down and tried to catch Hermione's eye, but she was determinedly avoiding his gaze. He was also suddenly very glad that Hermione had interrupted him before he mentioned his dreams about running down a long corridor, because Merlin knows how long Umbridge has been standing there listening. He was confident that she hadn't heard anything she wasn't supposed to, though.

"You will address me as 'ma'am' or 'professor', Mr. Potter. Five points from Gryffindor." Harry rolled his eyes. Umbridge puffed her chest up importantly and stepped up to Ellie's bed, inspecting her sickly appearance. "Now how is Miss Milton doing today? She looks absolutely dreadful."

"Better, I suppose, _professor,"_ Harry said, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the word professor. He straightened up when he remembered that Bakura had sent her to the Shadow Realm. Harry still didn't quite understand what exactly that meant, but he was eager to see if there would be any difference in her behavior.

"Professor, I think that Ellie _is_ feeling quite a bit better," Hermione said. "Madame Pomfrey had to remove her appendix, and she's been in recovery the past few days -"

"Is there a scar?" Umbridge interrupted, turning around. "I hear that these silly muggle procedures need to use knives and are quite barbaric."

"Oh, I don't k-know," Hermione stammered. "I don't know how Madame Pomfrey took it out."

"Well aren't you muggle-born?" Umbridge demanded. "Shouldn't you be aware of these ailments that only seem to affect your kind?"

"Well, to be fair Professor, only highly trained doctors are able to perform these operations, they are far from barbaric. It takes _years_ of extensive training to get a license," Hermione said, more confidently this time. "I don't know if Madame Pomfrey used magic or not to complete it."

"I see," Umbridge continued, looking thoughtful. "Where are your little Asian friends?"

"You mean the Japaneseboy, the Egyptian and the boy who was born in England?" Harry asked dryly. That trip to the Shadow Realm must not have had any effect on her, she was still as horrible as ever.

"Yes, silly me," she simpered, smiling. "Where are they?"

"They're visiting Malik's brother and sister in the hospital," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Why do you care anyway? _Ma'am,_" He added as an afterthought.

"I care about all of my students," Umbridge replied, ignoring Harry's attempts to get her going. "Who gave them permission to leave the school?"

"Dumbledore, I reckon," Ron said, after taking a quick look from Harry to Hermione. "And McGonagall just took them to the hospital."

"I don't suppose they ever thought to request the permission of the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, did they?"

"Who?" Harry asked, delightedly.

"_Me!" _Umbridge snapped, a faint tint of red appearing in her cheeks. Harry was pleased to finally have gotten a reaction out of her, no matter how small. She cleared her throat with a small _hem hem_ and straightened out her pink cardigan, as though composing herself. "How are they getting to this hospital?"

She was trying to get information out of them, obviously. Harry fumed. He didn't want to lose his temper with this woman, that was the last thing that they needed right now. And he had promised McGonagall that he wouldn't make Umbridge suspicious. So for once this year, he kept his mouth shut.

"We don't know," Ron said.

"How have Mr. Ishtar's siblings fallen ill?"

"We don't know," Ron repeated, his ears turning pink.

"Don't your friends tell you anything?" She demanded.

"Guess that they're not very good friends then," Harry replied halfheartedly, shrugging.

"Are you sure?" She raised an eyebrow and regarded Harry carefully.

"I must not tell lies, _Professor_," he held up his hand, which emphasized his point. Harry smiled at her.

Annoyed, Umbridge turned to face Ellie again. She poked at her face for a moment, looking as though she were trying to gauge a temperature reading. She eventually gave up, and shrugged. "Tell Miss Milton that I would like to see her when she wakes up."

"Will do, _Professor,"_ Harry said.

**xxx**

"You want me to WHAT?" Malik demanded of McGonagall, shocked.

"For the _third _time, Mr. Ishtar, toss the Floo Powder into the fire and step -"

"I think Ryou should go first," Malik said, taking a step back. "You know, he's the most responsible."

"_Me?_" Ryou couldn't help but squeak. "Why me?!" He did _not _like the idea of stepping into a fire, no matter how many times McGonagall assured him that it was safe. He remembered Dumbledore traveling via fireplace way back when he first invited him to come to Hogwarts, but Ryou didn't care. He was _not _stepping into those flames. He tried to ignore the sound of Bakura roaring with laughter in the back of his head.

"Do you want to see your siblings or not, Mr. Ishtar?" McGonagall sighed.

"Well, yeah …" Malik mumbled. "But …"

"I'll go first," Yugi piped up.

"You will?" Both Malik and Ryou asked.

Yugi shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Malik opened his mouth to answer, but Yugi interrupted him. "Don't answer that, Malik."

"Good," McGonagall said. "Now, Tonks will be waiting on the other side to take you up to their room."

Ryou perked up at those words. He liked Tonks, and was excited to see her again. She was such a chatterbox, and he always enjoyed her company.

"Okay," Yugi said nervously, taking a handful of some powder that McGonagall handed to him. "St. Mungo's?" He asked, checking with McGonagall one more time for confirmation.

"Yes, Mr. Muto. And speak _clearly, _otherwise you can end up somewhere completely different from where you intended."

"Okay," Yugi repeated, taking a deep breath. Ryou admired his courage, but not enough to speak up and volunteer to go first himself. He gave his friend a shaky grin. Yugi tossed his powder into the flames, which suddenly turned emerald green.

"St. Mungo's!" Yugi cried, stepping into the green flames. He vanished instantly.

"You next, then," Malik said, giving Ryou a pointed look.

"Fine," Ryou said nervously. Bakura, he noticed, wasn't laughing anymore. In fact, Ryou could have sworn that he was feeling his nerves build up to a level to match his own.

_Mind your own damn business, hikari_. He grumbled.

Ryou bit his lip to keep from smiling.

_Just go._

Ryou, feeling slightly better now that he had something to laugh at, grabbed a handful from McGonagall as well. Trying not to think about what he was about to do, he tossed it into the fire and quickly stepped in. He could feel the warmth from the flames, but they did not burn him. For that, he was grateful.

"St. Mungo's!" He cried. He began to spin rapidly, seeming to be traveling through a tunnel of fireplaces. He caught glimpses of rooms, but he was moving too fast to see what was really going on in them. Just as Ryou began to feel sick, his spinning came to an abrupt stop and he shot out onto a pristine marble floor, covered in soot and looking up at a grinning Tonks. She was sporting long pink hair today, and standing next very blackened Yugi.

"Hullo, Ryou!" Tonks said happily, bending down and hauling him off of the floor. "Alright?"

"I'm not sure," Ryou replied dizzily, grabbing her arm for balance and squeezing his eyes shut. He heard a commotion just then, and opened his eyes again just in time to see Malik fall out of the fireplace face first. He, like Yugi and presumably Ryou, was covered head to toe in soot as well.

"That was freaking awful," Malik said, accepting Tonks' extended arm and climbing to his feet. "Never again …"

"You three are filthy," Tonks remarked, and waved her wand over them. Instantly their clothes, hair and skin were clean again, free from any and all traces of soot.

"Thanks!" Yugi said gratefully, looking down at himself.

"So where are Isis and Rishid?" Malik asked, looking around. The room they were in looked like a lobby, it had a reception desk with several people crowded around it. Ryou cocked an eyebrow at some of the people there, he supposed that even the wizarding world had their fair share of stupid accidents that wound them up in the hospital. There was a man who was leaking steam from his ears and whistling like a teapot, a little boy who seemed to have grown hair all over his body and was crouched down like a dog, and an elderly woman who kept emitting loud squeaking noises. Ryou and Yugi shared a confused, yet slightly amused look and turned their attention back to Tonks.

"This way," Tonks said cheerfully, ignoring the strange people at reception and leading them down a corridor and up some stairs. There were dozens of people in white robes bustling about.

_They must be healers,_ Ryou said to Bakura, eyeing a middle aged witch carrying a tray of potions. _That's what Ellie wants to be._

_Like a doctor? _Bakura asked. He grunted. _I can see it._

Luckily, none of the healers were close enough to have to worry about overhearing any conversation, so Tonks piped up. "I was speaking with your sister and brother earlier, Malik. They're both doing great!"

"Are you sure?" Malik asked anxiously, his cheerful demeanor from earlier evaporating now that he was so close to his family. "Are they well enough to see us all? Maybe I should -"

"Malik, calm down!" Tonks interrupted, patting his back soothingly. "They're fine. Just a little shook up, is all. In fact," she stopped walking, leaned in and beckoned the boys closer as though she was telling them a secret. "Dumbledore reckons that they'll be ready to leave for headquarters sometime tomorrow."

"That's great!" Yugi said. "That way they'll be kept safe with Grandpa, Malik. I wrote him yesterday to tell him the news, he should be heading there within the week."

"I don't know if I want them involved in all of this," Malik said. Ryou could see the gears in his mind working as he pondered the possibilities. He wished that he would stop thinking so much. "What if -" He suddenly gasped, as though an idea had struck him. "Where's my Rod?" He whirled around on Ryou, apparently forgetting about Tonks, who furrowed her eyebrows and tactfully walked on ahead.

"Malik!" Ryou hissed. "I've got it right here," he gestured to his backpack, which currently held both Malik's Millennium Rod and the Scales. "Keep your voice down!"

Malik, realizing his blunder, shook his head and leaned in closer to Ryou. "Can I have it?"

Shocked, Ryou shook his head fervently. "No!"

"Why not!?" Malik snapped, eyeing his backpack. Tonks had continued walking ahead of them, but she didn't realize that the three boys had stopped.

"Malik you are not well," Yugi said. He grabbed hold of Malik's arm, attempting to lead him down the corridor towards Tonks and away from Ryou. Ryou did not like the look in Malik's eyes. He had been acting relatively normal for the past couple of days, but Ryou should have known better than to let his guard down.

"Don't touch me!" Malik cried, shoving Yugi off and receiving several stares. "I want my Rod." He turned to Ryou now. Bakura, sensing that this was not good, quickly took over.

"Why?" Yugi asked, hurt shining in his eyes. Malik had not hurt him physically, but it bothered him a lot that his friend had pushed him away so aggressively. Ryou was surprised that Yami hadn't taken over yet, this looked as though it could get serious. Malik took another step closer to Bakura.

"I don't want them to see me like this," Malik said, staring Bakura in the eyes and wearing a look that Ryou hasn't seen since his Rare Hunter days. It scared him. "Give it to me."

"No," Bakura said, not breaking eye contact or backing down in any way. "Back off, Ishtar."

"I can use the Rod to fix myself," Malik said, his threatening eyes turning desperate, but no less intimidating. "Why won't you help me?"

Ryou once again thought that Malik was losing his mind, and worry tinged his stomach. They all knew that giving Malik the Millennium Rod back would not help him anymore than giving him any regular stick would, but it could do a world of hurt. Malik was not in a well enough state of mind to wield that kind of power just yet, and he didn't understand that having the Rod couldn't fix anything.

"Malik …" Yugi said, his eyes fixating on Tonks, who had finally realized that they weren't behind her. She had stopped walking, and was staring at them from down the corridor. It looked as though she were deciding whether or not to intervene, and Ryou knew that they didn't have much more time to finish this conversation.

"Don't make me do this, Bakura," Malik said, clenching his fist and taking a step closer. The two boys were only inches apart and practically had sparks flying between them, oblivious to the stares they were receiving.

"Try me," Bakura spat. "You _know _the Rod can not help you, Ishtar. You are a fool if you think that I will let you have it before you visit your family."

At the mention of his family, Malik instantly backed down. "Shit," he cursed angrily.

Ryou breathed a sigh of relief.

"Malik, come on," Yugi said. "You can have the Rod back soon. Just not yet. Don't you want to see your brother and sister?"

Malik nodded silently, and this time allowed Yugi to take his arm and lead him towards Tonks. Bakura reluctantly handed control back to Ryou, who clutched the shoulder straps of his backpack and flushed at all the people staring at them. He hurried to catch up.

"Don't let _him _get those, Ryou," Malik whispered as he caught up. Ryou nodded.

"Alright?" Tonks asked confusedly as they walked up to her.

"Yep," Yugi said, too cheerfully and with a voice about three octaves higher than usual. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah," Tonks said skeptically, with a pair of raised eyebrows. "This is it." She pointed to a closed door. "I'll be waiting outside to take you home when you're ready."

"Thanks," Ryou said, smiling shakily at her.

Malik, apparently forgetting his anger and his earlier reservations about having Isis and Rishid see him in his less than stable state, practically sprinted through the door. Yugi followed, and Ryou hesitantly brought up the rear. He didn't want to intrude on what was sure to be an emotional reunion, but he also wasn't one hundred percent positive that Malik wouldn't have another meltdown.

"Brother!" A very pale Isis cried. She was wrapped in a white robe and standing next to a bed that held Rishid, who wasn't quite as pale but had a black eye. Ryou thought it was very strange to see two very proud people in such vulnerable positions.

"Are you alright?" Malik demanded, rushing over and wrapping his arms around his much taller sister. He quickly pulled back to inspect her, and seeming satisfied he turned to Rishid. He gripped his hand tightly and Rishid nodded at him. Both of the elder Ishtars' eyes lingered on the gash on their little brother's face. Determined to keep the attention off of him, Malik wrapped his free arm around his sister protectively. The remaining three Ishtars were all misty eyed, but the dignified family refused to let any tears fall.

"We are fine, Master Malik," Rishid replied, bowing his head and regarding his younger, adopted brother's hand in his. "We have been more worried about you."

"Did he do this to your face, Malik?" Isis asked in a whisper, reaching up and gently touching the wound. "I should have never -"

"Don't," Malik said. "This wound is my own fault for allowing him to grow strong. I was careless." He did not hang his head in shame, Ryou noticed. He was finally beginning to blame himself. Which was both good and bad because it meant that he was returning back to his normal state of mind, but he was also beating himself over his yami's rise to power. "It is my fault that you two were kidnapped. I'm sorry."

"Malik," Isis said, sounding angry. "How dare you accept full responsibility for this?" She shoved him off, startling everyone in the room. "Do you know how offensive that is?"

"Uh, n-no?" He stammered, taking a step back and looking scared.

"I -"

"We." Rishid interjected firmly. Even though he was injured and in bed, Ryou could see how large of a man Rishid was. The hieroglyphs etched into his skull reflected impressively in the light of the small hospital room, and he squeezed Malik's hand hard. Ryou was intimidated even from his forgotten position across the room.

"_We_ should never have allowed you to leave our side," Isis continued. "We knew that you were going to be living in a very powerful magical environment where Marik would thrive. We should have come with you."

"If I may," Interrupted a voice from the corner. Ryou started when he saw the speaker. Had Dumbledore been standing there this whole time? Without him noticing? "I do not believe that the blame is to be put on anyone other than Marik, Lord Voldemort himself, and the old fool who allowed it to happen."

"You?" Yami asked, phasing out. Isis, apparently realizing that Ryou and Yugi had been standing there the whole time, nodded to them in welcome.

"Yes, Mr. Muto. I was well aware of Mr. Ishtar's predicament, yet I underestimated the magnitude of Marik's will. I should never have placed him in such a thriving magical environment. I offer my deepest apologies."

"Well, now that we're being honest …" Malik said, relief at having Isis's anger at him cut off written all over his face. He scooted back over to her, putting his arm around her once more and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry to say that I didn't have any time to bring you flowers, Isis. I know how much you like them."

"Oh, Malik …" Isis said, her anger apparently long forgotten. In fact, Ryou thought, she looked as though she were going to cry again. He couldn't help but feel jealous over Malik's infamous charisma. He never failed to win over any woman when he turned on his charm, even when he was living his worst nightmare. Ryou wished he had the same ability.

_Really, Ryou? _Bakura sighed exasperatedly.

Ryou flushed. He had forgotten that the mind link was still open. He didn't respond, and forced himself to pay attention to the situation at hand once more.

"How is Miss Milton?" Dumbledore asked the three boys. "I have heard of her predicament and regret not being able to see her myself." Isis and Rishid both perked up, apparently not knowing who or what Dumbledore spoke of.

"She is still unconscious, although Malik said that she had been up sometime last night. It seems as though she will wake up today." Yami replied.

"Who?" Rishid asked.

Malik sighed. "We've had a very eventful week."

"What has happened, Brother?" Isis asked.

"A classmate and friend of ours has been being tailed by Shadi ever since we, um, accidentally got her caught in a Shadow Game." Malik said, eyeing Isis warily, evidently expecting her to be angry again. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "She had the stamina to stay awake for a few minutes. So, for some reason, Shadi dumped the Scales on her."

"We have no reason to believe that Lord Voldemort or Marik has gained any knowledge of this," Dumbledore said. "Unless I am mistaken?" He looked pointedly at Malik.

He shook his head. "No, I have kept the mind link closed on my end. There really is no danger of Marik breaking in."

"How is the link now, Master Malik?" Rishid asked.

The boy in question shrugged. "Less and more, I guess." After seeing the look that Isis shot him, he quickly continued. "I mean, it's easier to shut him out since we don't, you know, share the same body. We both have to make a conscious effort to communicate, otherwise we can just feel what the other is feeling with no idea why. He can't hear what I'm thinking, but we definitely can communicate."

Rishid nodded. "So this friend of yours, is she capable of wielding the Millennium Scales?"

The three boys all looked at each other. "Not yet," Yami finally answered thoughtfully. "We believe in her ability to do it, but certainly not without rigorous training first."

"Will she be corrupted?" Isis asked.

"No," Ryou answered quickly.

Isis looked skeptical. "Those who wield the Scales must be pure of heart." Ryou nodded, he had no doubt that Ellie was pure of heart. "But those who possess so much purity with no darkness to buffer the Shadows are easily broken."

Ryou didn't like the sound of that. From what he knew, Ellie had never really faced any tough personal demons. Sure, she had faced danger and suffered a few losses, but other than a few minor glitches along the road Ryou knew that her own personal morality was never questioned. She had a nice family back home, and friends that would do anything for her. She was _good, _there was no arguing that. He hoped that what Isis said wasn't true. Ryou didn't want to lose the Ellie that he had grown to care for so much.

"Is she a duelist?" Rishid asked.

Ryou, heart sinking, shook his head. She always loved watching their duels and was interested in what was going on, but she had never really shown much interest in taking it up herself and when she did it was only because she didn't want to seem rude by saying no. He knew that it was good that she likely wouldn't be involved in any dangerous Shadow Games, but it meant that she couldn't defend herself if the need ever did arise.

"Why would Shadi give her the Scales, then?" Rishid asked quizzically.

"Like Malik said," Yugi spoke up in Ellie's defense. "She lasted quite a while in the Shadow Realm. And Shadi must have tested her. He wouldn't have given her the Scales had she not passed."

"Well," Isis said, and Ryou did not like her tone of voice one bit. "Not necessarily. Lord Voldemort did not seem that interested in preventing your people from rescuing us," she nodded at Dumbledore. "Perhaps he is going to go after Shadi? Perhaps he wanted to give the Scales away before Voldemort could get his hands on them?"

Ryou shook his head fervently, they had just had this same discussion last night with Harry, Ron and Hermione. He tried to ignore the other bit of logic that Isis had just brought to the table, when she said that Shadi could have given her the Scales out of fear of Voldemort. "No, Voldemort wouldn't be able to catch Shadi."

"He caught us," Rishid said darkly. "Maybe it was a distraction so he could get to Shadi …"

"Marik knows about Shadi, how he is the holder of the Millennium Ankh, and has been the keeper of the Millennium Items for so many years. He would be the best one to train Voldemort in wielding either the Eye or the Necklace," Malik said, nodding. He seemed to be agreeing with his siblings. "Marik wanted the Ankh, too. Shadi definitely would have sensed him coming."

"I don't think he simply dumped the Scales on Ellie as a last resort," Ryou said, trying his very best not to snap. "I'm sure she proved she was capable."

"I thought you didn't want her to take them?" Malik asked.

"I don't!" Ryou replied quickly, flushing. "I just don't think that she was a last resort, is all."

"We will not know until she wakes up," Bakura said, finally phasing out. "I think that until then, we should drop the matter."

"An excellent suggestion, Mr. Bakura," Dumbledore spoke up, eyes twinkling.

"Hey, I have a bone to pick with you old man," Bakura said to Dumbledore, pointing a finger aggressively in his face. "How does McGonagall know about us?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I did not tell her, Mr. Bakura."

"Then who did?"

"I did," Yugi said, shocking Ryou for the second time that day. "I thought she should know."

"When?"

"When Malik went missing." Yugi firmly stood his ground. Bakura was mad, but Ryou agreed with Yugi. He knew that McGonagall was someone that they could trust, and he didn't mind a few extra people knowing, as long as the right secrets were kept out of the wrong ears. Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters certainly knew most everything by now.

Bakura opened his mouth to give Yugi a piece of his mind, but Ryou spoke up first. "I don't think that this should be a secret anymore. I don't mind if you tell the Order, Professor." Obviously pissed off at being shut down by his hikari, Bakura snapped his mouth shut and glared at anyone who looked his way.

Malik nodded in agreement. "Just don't tell them the details, please." Obviously his past with the Rare Hunters was on his mind.

"The Order?" Isis echoed.

"Ah," Dumbledore smiled. "I have not yet told you the nature of your rescue, Miss Ishtar. I run a rebellion against Lord Voldemort and his followers, we call ourselves The Order of the Phoenix."

Isis nodded. "Will you be able to watch over my little brother when I am not around?"

"_Isis,"_ Malik hissed embarrassedly. She ignored him, simply pulling him in closer.

"Not only can we continue to protect these three boys," Dumbledore smiled, waving his arm at them. "We can offer you two a permanent place of residence at our Headquarters. You will be safe there, but we ask something in return."

"Anything you wish," Rishid said.

"I ask you two to assist Sugoroku Muto in the training of the Order in the art of dueling." Dumbledore said. "My intelligence tells me that Marik is training Lord Voldemort and his top Death Eaters, and I do not wish for any of my comrades to be caught up in a battle they cannot win."

"Yes, sir," Rishid agreed. Isis nodded alongside him in agreement.

"We will do whatever it takes."

**xxx**

Ellie woke up to the voices of two of her best friends doing what they do best: bickering. Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked up to see a blurry Ron and Hermione practically at each other's throats. Harry was perched at the end of her bed, keeping his mouth shut from the sounds of it. Her headache still pounded at her skull, but it wasn't as bad as it was last night. She smiled when she realized that they were so caught up in their argument that they didn't even notice that she had woken up.

"-don't understand why you need to still be writing _him_, of all people. He attacked Harry!"

"Viktor was imperiused! You know that! And he has always been very nice to me, unlike _some _people I can mention," Hermione retorted, straightening out a long piece of parchment she was writing on.

"_Ellie_ doesn't still write to that Durmstrang bloke she took to that bloody Yule Ball," Ron said. "What was his name again?

"_Nikolai_," Hermione said smartly. "And I'm sure you won't be pleased to know that she _does _in fact still write to him."

"_Hermione!" _Ellie couldn't help but snap. "That was supposed to be between _us!"_

"Ellie!" The three gasped. Hermione turned about three shades of pink before settling on white. She threw her letter aside and jumped onto her, wrapping her up in a suffocating hug.

"First of all, you're hurting me," Ellie said, pleased when Hermione loosened her grip and Ellie could breathe properly. "Second of all, can we lose some light? My head is killing me." Ron fell all over himself trying to close the curtains quickly. The room instantly darkened, and Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. "And thirdly, _that was supposed to be between us, Hermione."_

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked, ignoring her accusation. "We've been so worried!"

"Tired," Ellie said, allowing Hermione to help her sit up. "And my head hurts."

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, thoughtfully passing over her glasses.

"Thank you," She said gratefully, putting them on and her world instantly came into focus. "And I think so. I don't really feel any different." She shrugged, and then looked around for the first time, noticing the absence of three people she thought would have been around. A slight bubble of hurt erupted in her stomach. "Where are the others?"

They all shared a worried look, which turned Ellie's hurt into concern. "_Where are they?_"

"Oh, they're fine," Hermione said quickly, shoving a glass of water into Ellie's hand. Ellie never ceased to be amazed at all of her friends' abilities to figure out what Ellie wanted before she did herself. "They just went to visit Malik's brother and sister."

"Oh," Her worry quickly turned right back into hurt again. "Do they- I mean, were they… never mind."

"They were here, El," Ron said. "But, er, You-Know-Who and Marik kidnapped Malik's brother and sister."

Ellie spit her water out. "What?!"

"They're fine now," Harry said quickly, giving Ron a dirty look for breaking it to her so insensitively. "They've been admitted into St. Mungo's. That's where they went."

"Are they okay?"

"As far as we know," Hermione said, worry etched onto her face. "You've been out for awhile, you know."

"How long?" Ellie asked.

"Well, you disappeared Thursday night," Hermione said. "We found you Friday afternoon. Today is Sunday."

Ellie blinked. She couldn't believe that she had been asleep that long, and she still felt as though she could lay down and fall right back under again. She reckoned that she wouldn't be healthy for a good while yet, which brought her mind back to Malik. He couldn't be doing all that well: he was acting absolutely insane before Voldemort kidnapped his family. "How is Malik doing?" She asked.

Her friends hesitated. "Better," Hermione said thoughtfully. "He still has a ways to go, but he is definitely better."

Ellie nodded. She figured that she would have to wait and see for herself.

"So, what happened?" Ron asked.

"_Ronald,"_ Hermione hissed. "Don't push her."

"It's alright, Hermione," Ellie said, annoyed that her friend thought that she was so delicate that she couldn't talk about it. "It's no big deal."

"No big deal?" Hermione half cried, half shrieked. "Are you-"

"I remembered where I saw the Eye of Horus before when Ron mentioned the Chamber of Secrets," Ellie carried on, ignoring Hermione. She recalled the rest of her story without too many interruptions, although she was careful to leave out the bit where she failed all of Shadi's tests. She was determined to keep that a secret for as long as possible. Ellie couldn't help but be proud of her friends, though, as it seemed as though they had pieced together most of the story with the help of Myrtle and the transfers. They didn't seem terribly surprised by anything, until she mentioned Ammit.

"You have a monster?!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, rather than fearfully. "Blimey, do you think that we can sick it on Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins without getting caught?"

"_Her,_ Ronald," Ellie said, annoyed at his disrespect. She found herself fiercely protective of Ammit. "She's female. Not an it."

Unfazed, Ron continued. "Okay, then can we sick her on the Slytherins?"

"I can't control her yet," Ellie snapped at him. "I have no idea how to summon her. And even if I could, I wouldn't wish her wrath on anybody short of a Death Eater."

"Alright, well no need to get your knickers in a bunch," Ron mumbled, ears red.

"You can't control her?" Harry echoed worriedly, ignoring their earlier quips. "Does that mean that she can come out at anytime?"

Ellie sighed. "No. I need my Scales in hand to summon her." She looked around, realizing that she had no idea where said Scales were. "Where are they?" She demanded worriedly, praying that they didn't leave them behind in the Chamber.

"Ryou has them, don't worry," Hermione replied soothingly. "They should be back soon."

"How long have they been gone?" Ellie asked. She understood why they left, and didn't blame them. But she still was slightly hurt that they weren't there when she woke up. She was hoping that they could give her some insight on what she was going to have to go through in the next few months on her road to mastering her Scales. She felt distinctively powerless at the moment, and would have loved to have their reassurance.

"Awhile," Harry said. "They left first thing this morning, and lunch was two hours ago."

"Oh," She said, slightly bitterly. She hoped nobody noticed. "So how did you guys find me?"

"Well you weren't on the map so we thought that you had left Hogwarts," Ron said. "But Dumbledore said that he was keeping an eye on all the exits and nobody had passed through them, so you had to be in the school."

"Poor Ryou was beside himself," Hermione pointedly whispered to Ellie, who blushed and awkwardly tried to avoid her gaze. She was beginning to have the feeling that Hermione believed he had feelings for her, and Hermione was never wrong. Her stomach fluttered a little bit, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Yugi sent out a monster to look for you," Harry said, predictably oblivious to what Hermione had said and Ellie's reaction to it. "It took awhile, but eventually he lead us to Myrtle who told us that you've been dragged down to the Chamber of Secrets by a monster."

"So I _was _down there for a long time," Ellie confirmed, raising an eyebrow. She remembered that she had disappeared around curfew Thursday night, and Hermione said that they had not found her until well into the next day. She recalled her anger last night at lying down in the Chamber for so long, and it came back in full force. "Didn't it occur to you guys that there's only two places in Hogwarts that aren't on the Map?"

"No, not really," Ron said sheepishly. "We're really sorry, El."

"Ellie," Hermione said, furrowing her eyebrows. "Surely you're not angry that it took so long? We did our best."

"No," She snapped unconvincingly. Ellie crossed her arms and avoided their gazes. She knew that it was unreasonable to be upset, and she knew that they did everything they could, but Ellie couldn't get over the fact that she had been lying in the cold Chamber for nearly a day. The place was _full _of rats, Merlin knows they were probably crawling all over her the whole time.

The thought of that made her shudder. "I think I'm going to go and wash up." She made to stand up, and as though that simple movement set off alarms, Madame Pomfrey was instantly by her side.

"And where do you think you're going?" She demanded. Ellie was only half out of bed, but she froze in place. The look Madame Pomfrey was giving her was kind of scary.

"To go and clean up," Ellie said, regaining her confidence and continuing get up on unsteady legs

Surprisingly, Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Alright, I think that might be best. Come along, then." She wrapped a supporting arm around Ellie and helped her walk.

Ellie shot a look at her friends, who clearly were dumbfounded at her strange behavior and didn't know what to say. She followed Madame Pomfrey into a different washroom than the one she had visited last night, and allowed the woman to help her undress.

"I really think I'm up to doing this myself," Ellie muttered, slightly embarrassedly as she avoided her eyes.

"I'm sure you are dear, but I don't want you passing out into the water," Madame Pomfrey replied. She tutted as she ran the water for the bath, eyeing Ellie's body in a disapproving way. "You're too skinny."

"I haven't eaten anything in nearly five days," Ellie shot back defensively. But her comment really got into Ellie's head. She discreetly checked out her reflection in the mirror, and for the first time looked at her body in a critical manner. She had never really cared before, but now Ellie couldn't help but agree with Madame Pomfrey. She was short, but even still she barely weighed a hundred pounds. She was hardly skin and bones, but she didn't carry the weight where it could be considered desirable. Sure, Ellie was not flat-chested, but she certainly could not be considered "busty" by any means. She enviously thought of Pavarti and Lavender, who flounced around their dorm topless all the time. _They _were busty. Ellie even began mentally comparing herself to Hermione, who had certainly filled out quite a bit more than Ellie. Her eyes traveled down to her hips, which protruded out only slightly. She suddenly found herself wishing that she had more curves.

Evidently in a self-destructive mood, Ellie took in the reflection of her face next. She didn't even think about what she was doing when she climbed into the bathtub, her mind was obsessed with picking apart her own reflection. Her skin was more than pale on a good day, but today it was a sickly white, almost grey and she had huge bags under her eyes. She looked like hell. Usually if you looked really close you could see a million tiny faded freckles from all the time she spent in the sun playing quidditch, but once again her gaunt skin today made them stick out a hundred times worse. Ellie knew from her mother's constant ranting about her appearance that those could easily be covered up with a little bit of makeup, but Ellie had never really cared enough before to do it without her mother's insistence. Those freckles combined with her curly blonde hair were quite childlike. She didn't consider herself ugly, but at the same time she couldn't help but draw the obvious connection between her girl like features and her resemblance to a little girl.

She only half listened to Madame Pomfrey as she told her about how Umbridge and the rest of the student body believed that she had come down with appendicitis, and that was why she was in the hospital wing.

When they were finished, Ellie climbed out of the tub and wrapped herself in a towel. When Madame Pomfrey handed her a fresh set of pajamas to put on, Ellie had to bite her tongue to keep herself from asking if she had anything more grownup. With a wave of Madame Pomfrey's wand, Ellie was dry again and she left her alone to dress. Glad for the bit of privacy, Ellie instantly dropped the towel and took in every inch of her reflection. She was scrutinizing for so long that Madame Pomfrey knocked on the door, asking if she was alright.

"I'll be right out," Ellie called, quickly pulling on the fresh undergarments and nightgown. She was glad to see that this one was slightly more fitted than the one she had on before. It was light blue, fell a few inches above her knees, had long sleeves and buttoned up the front. Experimentally, Ellie undid the top two buttons. She liked the way that it exposed a little bit of cleavage.

Pleased, Ellie opened the door and allowed Madame Pomfrey to guide her back to her friends.

**xxx**

**And there you go. I enjoyed writing this chapter, but it's kind of hard to keep track of who's crazy and who's not these days. I was halfway through writing the trip to St. Mungo's when I remembered that Malik is crazy! Oops. Anyways, I hope that you guys all enjoyed it!**

**Also, I want to know what you guys are thinking will happen: How deep will Ellie succumb to the corruption of the Shadows? And what do you think she will do? I think I foreshadowed a quite a bit in this chapter, but I'm curious to know what you guys think!**

**Please review, and thanks a million for reading!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Hello everybody! Another long chapter for you here, it proved slightly painful to write as my muse flew away with the bad weather. I've kind of been in sun 'n' fun mode, but today I hunkered down and finished this up. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. Except for Ellie and the plot. So, pretty much nothing is mine. Almost. Ugh.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 32**

"I hope Ellie's awake!" Ryou said excitedly as they left McGonagall's office. They had sat and talked with Isis and Rishid for hours, and they have finally returned to Hogwarts. Ryou didn't know what time it was, but the lengthening of the shadows and the growling of his stomach suggested that it was well after dinnertime. "I want to see her face when I give her these flowers."

"Don't you dare take all the credit, Ryou," Malik threatened good naturedly, grinning. After seeing his siblings, he was in a much better state of mind. It was almost like Malik was back to his old self. He was still going to spend the next few nights in the hospital wing just in case, but Ryou thought that the visit with Isis and Rishid would help him be up and functioning normally again in no time at all. "It was my idea, remember?"

"We all chipped in!" Yugi piped up. "That St. Mungo's gift shop was _expensive_!"

"But she's worth it, right Ryou?" Malik winked and nudged Ryou, causing him to blush crimson. Ryou made a mental note to never tell Malik anything else he could tease him about ever again, because the boy was going to cause him to die of embarrassment any day now.

"Yes," He replied quietly. Both Malik and Yugi burst out laughing. Ryou tried his best to ignore both them and Bakura chuckling in his head, and began fussing with the large bouquet of yellow flowers in his hand. He wished that he could tell Ellie that the flowers were just from him, but the gift shop _was _terribly expensive and Ryou still wasn't one hundred percent sure he wanted her to know his feelings just yet. Yes, it was best to say that it was from all of them.

"Yami wants to know if you think they'll survive another day. You know, since you flattened them when you fell out of the fireplace," Yugi said, smiling, when his laughter died down.

"I did not flatten them, Yug," Ryou said, frowning, yet glad to have a change in subject. "Look, you can barely tell they're damaged!"

"It's the thought that counts anyways," Yugi said, smiling. "I'm sure that she'll love them."

"I hope so."

"Hey guys! Wait up!" Harry's voice suddenly called from behind them. Ryou and the two other boys turned around to see him jogging towards them, a bandage wrapped around his hand.

"Hi, Harry," Yugi said.

"How were your brother and sister, Malik?" Harry asked.

"They were good," Malik replied happily. "Dumbledore said he is going to send them to Headquarters tomorrow. So where were you?"

"I had detention with Umbridge," He replied, rolling his eyes and falling into step with them. "I was just heading back to see- hey, are those flowers for Ellie?"

"Um, yes," Ryou said, quickly adding: "We all chipped in."

"Blimey, I never would have thought of that." Harry said, looking impressed.

"Has she woken up?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah, she was awake," He hesitated for a bit. Ryou listened intently. "She's real tired, though. She fell asleep again when I had to leave for my detention."

"Oh," Ryou said disappointedly. He was really looking forward to talking to her tonight. He was glad he went with Malik today, but he also very much wished that he could have been in both places at once. "How was she?"

"Erm," Harry said, hesitating. "Moody?"

"Moody?" Yugi echoed, his face mirroring the worry that Ryou was sure was written all over his face too. "How bad?"

"Not too bad," Harry said. "But she was definitely cranky, which is unlike her."

"Did she say how she felt?" Malik asked.

"Yeah, she had a bad headache," Harry nodded. "And she wouldn't eat anything Madame Pomfrey offered her."

The group was silent as the three transfers digested that information. The headache and lack of appetite were to be expected, as Ryou knew from experience that they were pretty common side effects of somebody who wasn't used to the Shadows being exposed to them. He knew that they would fade in time. Ryou was more worried about how Harry said that Ellie was being moody. Ryou knew for a fact that Ellie was never short tempered with any of her friends, and it scared him to death because it could mean that the Shadows were taking their toll on her personality even faster than he thought possible. He desperately hoped that she was awake, Ryou wanted to see for himself.

The group was definitely walking quicker than absolutely necessary as they entered the hospital wing. It was still empty, save for the curtain blocking off the corner where Ellie and Malik have been staying. Ryou found himself hoping that Madame Pomfrey would move Malik away from Ellie now that she was awake, he didn't like the idea of them sleeping so close together with nobody else around.

_For _Ra's_ sake, Ryou, will you give it a rest? _Bakura chided. _Do you not think that Ishtar has other things on his mind?_

_Well I don't know, Koe!_

_I wonder what Elizabeth would say if she knew how jealous you were,_ Bakura mocked. He was worse than Malik.

Ryou was just about to reply angrily when Hermione pulled the curtains open, and he gasped when he saw what he had been waiting to see for nearly four days now: Ellie, awake and sitting up in bed.

"You're awake!" Ryou exclaimed. He rushed forwards so that he could get a better look at her, and was pleasantly surprised when she leaned forwards to pull him into a hug.

"About time, right?" She replied. Ryou was too focused on the swooping of his stomach and the scent of Ellie's hair to answer. Was that vanilla? He wrapped the arm that wasn't holding the bouquet around her too, and hoped that she couldn't feel the thumping of his heart. Ryou also hoped that Bakura wouldn't notice. His yami was observing with less involvement than usual, Ryou noticed. It was like he was watching what was happening without listening to Ryou's thoughts, which made Ryou grateful but was also a grim reminder of what he had almost done to Ellie. What he could _still _do to her.

Ellie pulled away much too soon for Ryou's liking, but it allowed him to get a good look at her. Ryou instantly noticed that the rosiness in her cheeks was gone: she was _very _pale. She had dark circles under her eyes, which were, Ryou noticed, squinting at the light that the open curtains let in. Ron must have noticed this as well, because he quickly closed them, before clapping the three boys on the back in welcome. Ryou's attention couldn't wander, though. He couldn't help but think of how breakable Ellie looked in that moment, looking so sick and being wrapped up in the blankets. Ryou wanted to scoop her up in his arms again and never let go.

"Are those for me?" Ellie's voice broke through his train of thought, and he saw that she was eyeing the flowers with a small smile playing on her lips. Ryou delightedly noticed that a little bit of pink was finally bleeding into her cheeks as she asked the question.

Feeling more confident now, Ryou nodded proudly. "I- I mean, _we _thought you would like them." He gestured to Yugi and Malik.

"Wow, thank you guys. That's really sweet," She said, biting her lip and her smile grew. Once again, butterflies erupted in Ryou's stomach. He busied himself by placing the bouquet into a vase on her bedside, making sure to turn the damaged side away from her so she wouldn't notice.

As Ellie's eyes traveled from the flowers to the rest of her visitors, her smile quickly faded into a very troubled expression and her eyes widened. She turned her attention to Malik. "How are you?"

Malik shrugged, grinning. "I'll live." He made his way to Ellie's bedside and gathered her up in what looked like a bone crushing hug, actually lifting her body a few inches out of bed. "I'm glad to see you awake!"

"Malik, you're hurting her!" Ryou said desperately, remembering how fragile she looked.

Malik put her down and stepped back, laughing. Ellie looked shocked and a little ruffled, but otherwise fine. Ryou sighed exasperatedly.

"I'm not that delicate, you know," Ellie said, sounding slightly annoyed. Ryou was horrified to see that that comment was aimed at him. She again turned to Malik before Ryou could stutter out an ashamed apology. "And your sister and brother?"

Malik's smile faltered for a moment, but quickly came back in full force. "They're great! Much better than I was expecting."

"How are you feeling?" Yugi asked Ellie, stepping forwards to receive his hug.

"Better than this afternoon," Ellie replied with a shrug when she let him go. "But I still have a headache."

Yami phased out and stood next to his hikari. "That will fade in time," he assured her. "It is a common effect of an inexperienced Shadow wielder. You need not worry."

Ellie nodded gratefully. "Can I see them?"

Hermione looked offended. "Oh, I'm not so sure that's a good id-"

"It's fine!" Ellie interrupted impatiently. "I haven't so much as _looked_ at them for more than a moment."

Bakura phased out in order to put his two cents in. "Look, Blondie, you are not in any state to be attempting to control the Scales now. We wouldn't want you hurting yourself." He said that condescendingly, but Ryou sensed that his words were very sincere.

"Oh, so you're back to calling me Blondie now?" Ellie demanded Bakura, shocking the wits out of all present. Ron choked on the water he was drinking. "Like you could do anything to stop me." She made a show of eyeing his incorporeal body. Ryou felt Bakura's anger rise at that comment, because it actually hit home for his yami. Bakura hated being helpless when he was not in control of their body. Not that he would ever admit it or allow himself to rise to the bait. He instead opted to seethe silently.

"Your energy level at the moment is practically nonexistent," Malik cut in. "You probably won't be able to do anything with them. Why take the risk?"

"I don't want to do anything with them," Ellie said, her gaze departing from Bakura and settling on Ryou. Her expression turned pleading, and Ryou could have sworn that her eyes grew two sizes. He swallowed. Hard. "I just want to see them. Please, Ryou?"

What harm could it do? Ryou asked himself, his mind slightly fuddled. He really couldn't bear to say no to her, especially when she was looking at him like _that_. Against his better judgment, he removed his backpack and opened it, reaching in and handing over both the Scales and the blue Feather of Ma'at. Ellie's face lit up, while both Bakura and Malik groaned exasperatedly.

"So that's all it would have taken?" Malik demanded Ryou, eyeing the Rod sticking out of his still open backpack. "It's about damned time someone used that look back on you." Ryou refused to answer, and quickly zipped the bag back up.

Ellie's eyes greedily took in the heavy, golden set of scales in her hand. They were quite large, they looked even bigger held in her small hands. Thankfully they didn't seem to be having any ill effect on her, though. The gold glinted in the fading light coming from the window, and Ryou swore he saw something pass in the reflection coming from her eyes. He shook his head and simply told himself that he was seeing things.

Ellie's gaze next traveled to the long blue feather that she held had dropped in her lap in favor of examining the Scales. The room was silent as everybody waited for something to happen, but nothing did.

Ryou finally came to accept that Ellie was going to keep the Scales. He didn't even need to ask her, it was obvious that she was forging a connection with them as he watched on. He knew that even if she didn't want them, it wasn't really a choice now. It was probably going to be just like Ryou's own connection with the Ring. Whenever he was separated from it, it somehow always ended up back where it belonged. Whether it was through Bakura or it's own powerful agenda, the Ring never failed to find it's way back to it's rightful home around Ryou's neck. He felt stupid for not realizing it before, but he supposed that he was just in denial because he didn't want this to happen. Minutes passed, and Ellie's gaze never once wavered from the Scales. Ryou found himself growing impatient.

"What did Shadi do to you?" He finally asked, breaking the silence. The tension was killing him, he had been dying to find out what had happened to Ellie ever since they recovered her unconscious body from the Chamber. "Did he hurt you?"

Ellie slowly looked up from the Scales. She looked dazed, as though she had just awoken from a trance. Perhaps she had. She shook her head, either to tell him no or to shake herself out of the trance. "No, he didn't."

"So you remember what happened, then?" Yugi asked.

"Yes," She rubbed her eyes under her glasses, as though thinking about it was frustrating her. Ryou felt a small bubble of anger rise up in his throat.

"What did he do to you?" Ryou repeated, more fiercely this time.

Ellie hesitated.

"Tell them, Ellie," Harry encouraged her. "It's not so bad."

Ellie shot him a look. "Remember when I said that to you, Harry? Back on Private Drive?" Harry looked sheepish. "You got mad at me."

"Ellie," Yami said, sounding a bit like a school teacher reprimanding a child.

Ellie made a face. "Sorry," She laughed unconvincingly. "So I guess Shadi has been planning this for awhile …"

Ellie launched into the tale of what had happened to her. She told them about how Shadi had been planting the dreams into her head in order for her to remember the Eye of Horus in the Chamber of Secrets, how Ammit had dragged her down into the depths of the school, and that he had given her the Scales sooner rather than later because he sensed Voldemort was coming after him. Harry and Hermione looked painfully smug at this particular bit, while Ryou and Bakura tried to ignore them. They still didn't believe that Voldemort could capture Shadi. Ellie ended her tale by telling them that the last thing she remembered was passing out. But there was a glaring hole in her story that all five newcomers noticed.

"He did not put you through a trial?" Bakura asked skeptically when Ellie finished her story.

Ellie examined him for a moment, an odd expression on her face. "No."

She was lying, Ryou didn't have an ounce of doubt in his mind.

"You're lying," Bakura said, coming to the same conclusion as Ryou. He glared at her, apparently trying to scare the truth out of her. Ryou had to admit that the look was pretty intimidating, and he nudged his yami to tone it down a bit. Bakura ignored him.

Ellie flinched a bit at the glare she was receiving, but still didn't answer. Instead she again looked down at the Scales.

"A trial?" Ron asked. "What kind of trial?"

"Shadi does not simply give items of such power to just anybody," Yami answered slowly, his eyes never leaving Ellie's guilty face. "He always executes a trial before allowing a person to become the wielder of a Millennium Item." He looked thoughtful, as though he were remembering his own trial.

"What does he make you do?" Hermione asked, leaning forward anxiously. Ryou knew she was clever, and it was obvious that she was thinking the worst.

Yugi and Yami both shared a look. "It varies, depending on the person." Not even Ryou knew what trial the two of them had experienced. He himself passed his trial simply by putting the Ring on and not being incinerated by it, which was easy enough because he hadn't had a clue what he was doing at the time. Ryou wasn't sure what Malik had gone through, though. He hadn't imagined that it could have been good, because that would have been around the time when Marik was ravaging his soul. Ryou knew that there wasn't a chance that Ellie got by without a trial, and the fact that she was lying about it did not bode well.

"Ellie?" Ryou asked gently.

"I don't want to talk about it, Ryou," Ellie said quietly.

"Come on, Ellie, you can tell us," Hermione coaxed.

Ellie's head shot up, and she did not simply look irritated this time, she looked _mad_. The look she was giving Hermione was murderous, and Ryou worried about the Scales in her hand. "I said I don't want to talk about it!" Her hands clutched the Scales hard enough to turn her knuckles white, and the room began to spin. Ryou felt his power decrease enough to make him dizzy, while at the same time there was a huge spike in her power level. He grabbed onto a chair for support. It was as though all the Shadow Magic in the room had flown out of himself, Malik and Yugi. It was drawn to her anger, an emotion that the Shadows loved and had been deprived of ever since Ryou took the Rod from Malik. The vase holding the bouquet of flowers shattered, spilling them to their premature deaths as they hit the floor and were wrecked by a sudden rush of that wind blew out from Ellie. It was so strong that it blew the curtains back until they were horizontal for a few seconds. Ryou actually felt a small flicker of fear when he thought of what this emotional and untrained girl was now capable of.

"Whoa," Malik said, eyes wide. Both Yami and Bakura's forms flickered as their own magic was slowly draining as well.

Ryou bravely leapt forwards and grabbed hold of her hands, firmly pulling them away from the Scales. Luckily, she didn't resist him. The power shift in the room quickly balanced back out again. Ryou's dizziness instantly subsided, and Yami and Bakura's forms again materialized back to normal. Ryou's heart pounded. Ellie was left looking paler than before, but all traces of her earlier rage melted away from her face. "We're going to need to teach you to control that."

Ellie looked scared and shocked, as though she had no idea that she was capable of summoning power like she just did. Ryou thought that she was just lucky she didn't hurt anybody. "Oh," she whispered, pulling her hands away from Ryou's and bringing them up to rub her temples.

"Are you alright?" Yugi asked, hastily picking up the mangled bouquet of flowers and waving his wand to reconstruct the poor, shattered vase. He tried his best to make them look somewhat presentable, but the poor flowers were doomed from the start.

"Yes," Ellie said in a small voice, she was warily staring at the Scales as though she expected them to grow a set of jaws and bite her. "My head hurts." She really did look like she was in pain, Ryou wasn't sure if he should run for Madame Pomfrey or not. But before he could make a decision, Ellie looked up at Hermione with tired eyes. "Sorry. I- I'm not sure -"

"It's quite alright," Hermione said hastily. "That isn't your fault."

The room was tensely silent for the next few minutes as every member stared at Ellie, wondering exactly what Shadi had had her do to pass her trial. The reaction that she had just exhibited made it clear that it was something that she did not want to think about, let alone talk about. Ryou and Bakura locked eyes, not even needing to communicate to share what was on both of their minds. Ryou did not know whether or not to feel angry at Shadi for putting her through this, or to just feel sorrow for the trauma that Ellie had faced.

"I think I need another nap," Ellie said, slumping back against the pillows while a wave of exhaustion clearly took it's toll on her. She handed the Scales over to Ryou, apparently wanting to be rid of them after she witnessed what they allowed her to do. "Where's the feather?"

"Right here," Harry said, picking it up from the floor from where it had flown in the gust of wind. He handed it to Ryou.

"Thank you," Ryou said quietly.

He shared a look with Malik, who nodded at the unspoken question to watch over Ellie that night. She wasn't going to be left with the Scales, but Ra knew what else she was capable of now that she was accessing her new powers.

After a few tense goodbyes and a promise to come see them before they headed off to class the next day, the group left Ellie and Malik to head back to Gryffindor Tower.

**xxx**

When his friends left, Malik wasn't really all that tired. He made himself comfortable by peeling off his t-shirt, enjoying the cool air on his skin. But he was still not quite ready to take off the muscle shirt he had been wearing underneath, not unless he was completely alone. Ellie knew about his past, but he didn't want her to gawk at his mutilated back. Malik grabbed the magazine that Sirius had sent him and settled down in the chair between his and Ellie's beds. It was only 8 o'clock, and he wished that Ellie wasn't so tired so that he could have somebody to talk to. He didn't like being alone, especially when he could feel his yami's presence so prominently in the back of his mind.

Marik was happy, Malik could feel that, but he didn't know why. He wasn't letting him in, or even throwing any more taunts his way like he had been before the Order rescued Isis and Rishid. Malik had been growing used to the taunts, and didn't rise to the bait anymore. It was when Marik let Malik hear his thoughts that scared him the most: his yami was absolutely insane. It was terrifying, because he only had the emotional maturity of a small child, which was basically what he was. Marik was only born a few years ago. Malik was glad he hadn't heard anything from him recently. He tried his very best not to let it show when Marik communicated with him, but it was very hard not to react. He was sure Yami had noticed it a few times, but it wouldn't do any good to admit to his friends how much it was bothering him. He wanted them to think that he was stabilizing, because all Malik wanted was his Rod back. He felt powerless, while his yami was steadily gaining power.

About 15 minutes passed and Malik read a couple articles that would have been helpful months ago when he was restoring his motorcycle. He was happy to have a distraction, no matter how small. He was subconsciously rubbing the scar on his face when Ellie's voice caught his attention.

"Malik?" She asked.

He started, quickly dropping his hand from his cheek. "I thought you were asleep!"

Ellie shrugged, and sat up. Malik thought she looked strange without her glasses, but she never put them on. "I wanted to talk to you."

"So what, you've just been sitting here watching me for all this time?" He smirked at her, trying not to laugh. "Isn't that what you did last night while I was asleep?"

Malik was glad to see that she at least cracked a smile at that, but her reaction was mostly to blush beet red. "Sorry," She said, embarrassedly.

"Aren't you blind as a bat without your glasses?" Malik asked, cocking an eyebrow. She looked strange without them, Malik thought. He wasn't used to seeing her like that.

"Er, kind of," Ellie said. She made no move to pick them up, and Malik handed them to her. A weird look crossed her face. "Thanks." She smiled at him.

Malik noticed that when Ellie put them her gaze lingered around his bare shoulders. When she noticed that he had caught her staring, she awkwardly cleared her throat and blushed a little bit more for good measure.

Malik uncomfortably shifted so that his back was well hidden. His muscle shirt should cover his scars, but there was always the possibility that something was poking out and that's what she was staring at. He broke the silence. "Well what did you want to talk about, then? It better be important, you should be sleeping."

"Can you keep a secret?" She asked quietly, looking around.

"Course I can," He said happily, quickly forgetting about his back. He scooted his chair closer and grinned. He loved secrets.

"Well, I wanted to tell you this because I know you'll understand," She said. "No offense."

"No offense?" He skeptically furrowed his brows, preparing himself to be insulted.

"I failed my trial," Ellie blurted, her eyes traveling to her twisting hands.

"_You failed your trial?!_" He echoed, jaw dropping. "Then why the hell did Shadi give you the Scales?"

Ellie looked up at him, guilt and shame written all over her face. "Last resort. He was positive that Voldemort was coming for him."

Malik was speechless. He knew that he was staring at her incredulously, but he couldn't help it. "What was your trial?" He finally managed to spit out.

Ellie groaned. "It's embarrassing." She told him.

Malik couldn't care less, he really wasn't in any position to judge. He had tried to run away from his own problems, which had really only resulted in a much bigger problem in the form of Marik being resurrected and buddying up with Voldemort. Which is why, he realized, she was telling him. He _was_ slightly offended, but he was more interested in what happened with Shadi. "Tell me!"

"Well, first he wanted me to figure out where I've seen that stupid eye before," Ellie spat out, sounding angry. "But I was too thick to figure it out, even though he has given me hints for _months. _I didn't even realize it in the end, Shadi said that he only put the memory back into my head so I would meet him that night."

Malik nodded, not saying anything and not judging. Ellie looked grateful. "Go on," he said.

Ellie really hesitated at this bit, finally looking up and making eye contact with him. "Then he wanted to test my loyalty. He said that an opportunity presented itself and he didn't even have to do anything." She frowned again, tears welling up in her eyes. Malik wished she wouldn't cry, there was nothing worse than being alone with a crying girl.

"So?" He prompted, knowing full well that those tears would fall, whether he wanted them to or not.

"I was _awful _to you," She sobbed, the tears finally spilling out. She sniffed, and Malik awkwardly handed her a tissue. Should he hug her, or no? He really didn't know what to do. "When Harry t-told me about … you know."

"It's alright," Malik said, horrified when he finally realized that she was crying over _him. _"I'm over it, really." He waited until her sobs subsided enough that she could speak again, and he tentatively and awkwardly patted her back.

"I really am sorry," Ellie said. She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue he had given her.

"I know," Malik said quickly. "You didn't know, I don't blame you for thinking and saying those things."

"Really?" She sniffed, smiling up at him.

"Yes!" He cried, relieved that she looked somewhat happy again. He would have said anything to make her stop crying, and he was glad that it was that simple. "Now can we get on with the story?"

Ellie nodded fervently. Thankfully, no more tears came. Malik tried not to exhale in relief.

"The third option was to test my courage," Ellie said. She laughed bitterly. "I failed that one with flying colors, Shadi even said so himself."

"He did?" Malik asked.

"He said that I failed it magnificently," She made a face. "I guess I kind of did, though. He said that he came into my dream that time in order to make me fear him, because he knew you guys would tell me to keep away from him at all costs."

Malik blinked. Oops. Of course they had played right into Shadi's manipulative hands and caused Ellie distress. "Sorry," he said quickly.

Ellie looked at him funny. "It's alright, I was afraid of him anyways." She sighed. "That's when I started taking dreamless sleep potion so that I would stop having the dreams he was giving me."

"You were?" Malik asked, more interested than shocked. "Where were you getting it all?" He spotted an opportunity to begin taking it himself. He has relived the moment when Marik had been reborn in his dreams the past few nights, and pretty intrigued at the possibility of making it stop.

"I made it," Ellie told him, giving him a weird look. "Why?"

"Can you make me some?" He breathed.

"Can't you just get Madame Pomfrey to make you some?" Ellie asked, not even needing to ask why he wanted it.

Malik shook his head. "She says that it's not healthy to be taking it every night. She let me have it the first night, but after that she's just been giving me sleeping potion."

"I don't know," Ellie said skeptically. "If Madame Pomfrey said that it's not good for you -"

"It's a fairly simple potion, though, isn't it?" Malik prompted. He was willing to run and make it right then and there, if necessary.

"No!" Ellie said, shocked. "Well, yes, it is, but I'm not making it for you!"

"Ugh, fine," Malik said. He wasn't going to let the issue drop, but he had realized that she hadn't yet finished the story of her trial and he had rudely interrupted her. Obviously this wasn't easy for her. "Go on."

"Okay," Ellie said, eyeing him skeptically and shaking her head. She took a minute to gather her thoughts again. "Since I was preventing the dreams, Shadi got Myrtle to tell me that she had seen him go down into the Chamber. He wanted to test me again, but when she told me that I tried to run away."

"And that's when Ammit dragged you down," Malik finished for her. "Is that all?"

"Is that _all?_" Ellie echoed, offended. "I _failed_ my trials, Malik! Not just one, I failed all three!"

Malik shrugged. He didn't care that she had failed, truthfully he didn't really rank Ellie's behavior as nearly as bad as his own. Besides, everyone made mistakes. "He must have seen something in you, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here right now." He pointed out.

Ellie blushed a little bit. "He said that I was pure of heart. That he liked how I went back to apologize to you and Ryou and Yugi."

"And you have the ability to wield them in the first place," Malik reminded her brightly, making her smile. He was proud of himself. Apparently he was cheering her up a lot more than he thought he was capable of.

"You think I will learn to control them?" Ellie asked him. "Be honest."

Malik nodded. "I think that with the right amount of practice, anyone could do it. But it won't be easy, and you'll probably suffer a lot along the way."

Ellie's eyes widened in fear. Oops, Malik wanted to smack himself in the face. He and his _big mouth_.

"I will?" She asked in a small voice.

"You told me to be honest," Malik said, slightly defensively.

"Right," Ellie said distractedly, mind somewhere else. She looked up at him, and Malik leaned in. "Shadi said that I was naïve and easily manipulated." She sighed, looking directly into his eyes. Ellie followed his lead, leaning towards him too. "Malik, do you think that the Shadows will corrupt me?"

He hesitated. Honestly, Malik thought that they have already begun to take their toll. He knew that he was the right person to ask, though. Yugi would avoid the question and tell her that with her friends around she would never have to worry about facing anything alone, and Ryou would only sugar coat the answer and probably tell her a lie to make her feel better. Malik was the only one who would tell it to her straight, and he knew that he had to do just that.

"Yes, I do." Malik said simply. He was thinking of how moody she had become just today, and he wondered what else the Shadows trick her into doing in the near future. Ryou, Yugi and himself would do their best to help her, but deep down Malik knew that there was no stopping it.

"I think they already have," Ellie whispered, leaning in closer still. Malik was becoming slightly uncomfortable at their proximity now, and guiltily thought of Ryou. He shifted back.

"I know," Malik replied, standing up. "You should really get some sleep."

Ellie nodded dejectedly, and laid down. Malik moved his chair a few feet back, and returned to his magazine. At least, he pretended to. He sensed Ellie's gaze on him.

"Malik?" She asked a few moments later, her voice sounding as though sleep would overcome her any minute. Apparently she was more exhausted than Malik had originally thought. He felt bad for keeping her up so long.

"Yeah?" He looked up.

"Thanks," She smiled at him. "You're a good friend."

That compliment actually made Malik blush, he hadn't really heard anybody tell him that he was a good anything in awhile. "You're welcome." He grinned happily. Ellie soon fell asleep, and Malik continued to smile for a long time.

**xxx**

**Yugi POV**

"I think that we all need to talk," Hermione said before they reached Gryffindor Tower. She gestured to an empty classroom. "In private."

_She's worried about Ellie, Yami,_ Yugi said.

_As she should be, _Yami replied gravely. _The best we can do is offer our support._

Yugi nodded to both Hermione and Yami. He stepped into the dim classroom, perching on a desk. After they all filed in and Hermione closed the door, both Yami and Bakura phased out.

"What's this all about?" Bakura asked irritably. "My host needs his beauty sleep."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought you didn't care."

Bakura glared at him.

"What's going to happen to Ellie?" Hermione demanded Yami. "She's not herself."

"We cannot answer that yet," Yami replied slowly. "Only time will tell."

"Surely you have some idea?" Harry prompted, looking from Yugi to Ryou. "You guys both went through this."

"Well, yes," Ryou said uncomfortably. "But we had our yamis."

"And that makes a difference?" Ron asked.

Yugi and Ryou made eye contact quickly before looking away. Neither of them wanted to answer Ron. Yugi did not want to shame Yami by telling them how _dark_ he really was in the beginning. He knew that he wasn't like that anymore, but Yugi did not want to tell them of Yami's past. Yami had never been evil, but he was never afraid to do what he had to get what he wanted, and because of that the Shadows focused on him. Yugi would even argue that because of that he had taken less than his fair share of the Shadow's impact. He couldn't speak for Ryou and Bakura, but Yugi suspected that it had been more like fifty-fifty for them. He knew that Bakura has a horrifying past, but Yugi had recently learned that Ryou had some personal demons as well. However with them, the dark and light balanced out the Shadow magic. It all worked out for the best. Ellie had nobody to balance her out though, so nobody was sure what would happen.

_Thank Ra that she has had such a happy childhood, _Yami mused to Yugi. _Otherwise, she would be more likely to end up like Malik. _Neither of them wanted to say or think it, but Malik had been pushed over the brink of insanity several times because of the Shadows. It was because of that that his yami had been forged. It would be unthinkable for that to happen to Ellie as well.

"It does," Yugi finally answered when he collected his thoughts. "While we all had somebody to share the burden with, Ellie is all alone. And she's never experienced the effects of Shadow Magic before, so …" He didn't know how to finish that sentence on a positive note, so Yugi left it hanging.

"What if Ellie decides not to keep them?" Harry asked quickly. "Will the Shadows leave her be?"

Ryou shook his head. Yugi knew that he had realized that there was no turning back for their friend, Shadi had chosen her to wield the Scales and they had both witnessed the connection forge between Ellie and the item. "She has to keep them."

Hermione furrowed her brow. "I thought you said -"

"I was wrong," Ryou said, something akin to anger overtaking his usually peaceful expression. "Shadi's decision is final." He sighed, his anger melting into defeat. "Besides, she's bonded with them. Fate will always bring them back to her even if she does try to get rid of them."

Yugi felt himself shiver. The Millennium Puzzle has been the greatest blessing imaginable for him, but he would never ever wish a Millennium Item on any of his friends. They caused too much danger, grief and insanity. He hoped that Ellie would be strong enough to pull through it.

**xxx**

Ellie awoke to the bright, hot sun beating on her face the next day. It wreaked havoc on her pounding headache. She groaned, pulling the blankets up and over her face to block out the bright light. It took a few minutes for her to fully wake up, and when that was accomplished the first thing she did was jump out of bed and slam the curtains shut.

"Are you alright, dear?" Madame Pomfrey's confused voice floated over. The curtains that had been dividing her and Malik's beds have been removed at some point, and Malik was nowhere in sight. Madame Pomfrey was halfway across the room, carrying a tray of potions.

"I just have a headache," Ellie replied, rubbing her eyes and putting her glasses on.

"Would you like some potion to fix that up?" Madame Pomfrey asked concernedly. "There is no need for you to suffer."

Ellie nodded appreciatively. "That would be amazing," She said. Madame Pomfrey bustled into her office to whip up the potion.

While she waited, Ellie began digging around in the bag that Hermione had packed for her. She didn't much fancy the idea of spending the next few days in the hospital wing's pajamas or her school uniform. She anxiously pulled out her favorite pair of jeans and the same sweater that she had worn that day to Hogsmeade, the one that Malik had made fun of. Ellie couldn't help but feel disappointed. This outfit was definitely comfortable and would keep her warm in the chilly hospital wing, but Ellie had been hoping for something nicer. Sighing, she grabbed a few more things and headed for the bathroom.

Malik emerged in a cloud of steam just as Ellie approached the door. His hair was all wet and he had a towel draped over his shoulder, signifying that he was fresh out of the shower. Ellie wished that he wouldn't keep her here long, she wanted to clean up before they talked. But Malik must have been in a good mood that morning, because as soon as Malik saw her he shot a shockingly dazzling grin her way. He said something to her as well.

Ellie blinked a few times, confused. "What?" She was too busy both worrying about her ruffled appearance and as to why he was so happy and smiling at her like _that _to catch what it was the first time.

Malik laughed. "Someone not fully awake yet?" Ellie wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so she just shrugged and tried to ignore the feeling of her face heating up. Malik shook his head amusedly. "I said, you just missed everyone. You slept right through their visit, but they all had to go to class."

"Oh," Ellie said, shocked. "Did I really?" She had slept that long? Again? She couldn't help but be impressed by her own ability to sleep right through what she was sure was a loud visit by her friends. Malik threw his head back and laughed again. Ellie relaxed a little bit, but still felt a little self-conscious about the horrible state that she was sure her hair was in. She wished Malik would move aside so she could get to the bathroom to clean up and dress.

"Are you feeling better?" Malik asked, his voice losing the teasing quality and instead sounding concerned.

Ellie nodded. "Yes, I really do," She told him. It was true, too. She still was tired and had a killer headache, but Ellie realized that she was up and walking without trouble, unlike yesterday morning when she had to rely on Madame Pomfrey to walk her to the bathroom and help her bathe.

Malik grinned at her. "Glad to hear it! You look great."

Ellie felt her breath catch. "I do?" She couldn't help but ask.

Malik nodded. "Yeah, well you're standing on your own two feet, aren't you? And you're finally changing out of your PJs," he gestured to the bundle of clothes in her arms. Ellie was slightly disappointed at his answer. She didn't know why or when this happened, but she was suddenly very worried about what people thought of her appearance.

Ellie forced a laugh. "I guess I am," She said, and Malik finally stepped out of her way, opening the path to the bathroom. "Can you tell Madame Pomfrey that I'll be right out?"

"Will do!" Malik said.

Ellie thankfully got into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She was sick of living in the hospital wing, it felt as though she had been here for weeks. She dumped her clothes onto the counter and eagerly took in her reflection, which was, she was excited to see, looking a lot better.

While she was still pale, Ellie's skin no longer looked sickly. The bags under her eyes had lessened considerably, and she couldn't help but think that her hair was only slightly more messy than usual_._ Sure, she still had a long ways to go before she began looking _normal _again, but Ellie believed that she was a hell of a lot better than she was the day before.

Ellie quickly washed up and dressed. She angrily noticed that her ribs were poking out, since she hadn't eaten in days. Ellie made a note to eat more in the future so she could get rid of those and hopefully fill out in more desirable places.

Not wanting to spend more time obsessing over her reflection today, Ellie forced herself to stop staring and get back to the task at hand. Her hair didn't survive the static from when she put on the wool sweater from Mrs. Weasley, though, and she instead opted to put it into a bun. It looked nothing like the neat, pretty bun that Lavender had done a few weeks back, but Ellie knew there was no way that she could wrangle her hair into looking half as nice it did that day. She sighed, feeling a lot better now that she felt somewhat presentable, somewhat _normal_. Ellie quickly packed up her things. She was eager to get out and take that headache potion.

Ellie left the bathroom and found Malik laying on his stomach. He barely looked up when she emerged, he was too busy reading his magazine. On the table next to him, thankfully, sat Ellie's potion. She downed it in one gulp. It tasted awful, but it brought her instant relief.

"Here, dear," Madame Pomfrey came from out of nowhere, somehow both thrusting a tray of food into Ellie's arms and guiding her back into bed at the same time. Ellie thought that this was an act she must learn to perfect herself someday too, if she wanted to be a healer.

"Thank you," Ellie replied. She truly was ravenous. Yesterday she hadn't eaten much, as her stomach had been feeling queasy. But today she was really feeling the effects of not having eaten in several days, and she dryly saw her skinny, bony reflection in her mind's eye once again. She practically inhaled her eggs and toast, hearing Madame Pomfrey's comments over and over again in her head.

"My goodness, you cleaned that up fast. Would you like some more?" Madame Pomfrey asked her when she finished, eyeing her empty dishes. "You must be starving."

Ellie nodded and said yes, but truthfully she was full. The first plate had been more than enough to fill her, but she figured she might as well eat a second in the hopes of gaining a few pounds. Madame Pomfrey bustled away to prepare a second helping.

Ellie looked over at Malik, who was still only halfway through his first helping. It really was a monument to how quickly Ellie had eaten. She hoped she wouldn't make herself sick. "How did you sleep?" She asked him, remembering his request for dreamless sleep potion the night before.

Malik looked up at her, expression turning angry. Ellie instantly felt defensive. "I slept all night, but the nightmares sucked pretty bad." His words were accusing.

"Even if I had said yes I hardly could have gotten you a potion on the spot last night," Ellie hissed back, aware of Madame Pomfrey's approaching form. "Don't put this on me, Malik." Malik glared at Ellie the whole time that the healer dropped off the tray and until she disappeared into her office.

"You could have told me where you've got them stashed," He finally replied, pointing a fork at her. "But since you didn't, I suffered."

Ellie was getting angry that he was blaming her for his nightmares, she hadn't had anything to do with them. It was his own fault for running off and getting kidnapped. "I'm trying to help you, you know," Ellie told him. It was meant to seem like a friendly reminder, but it came out more as a snap. With every word, Ellie found herself growing more and more angry at him. She furiously tore her toast apart as she didn't really have any other outlet for her rage.

Malik didn't respond, which was probably for the better, because Ellie didn't really think she could get madder without really lashing out at Malik. She tried to understand that he was truly dealing with some nasty demons, but so was she! They were both in the hospital wing instead of attending classes because they had both been through hellish ordeals. He should be being nice to her. He should be respecting her.

Forcing some more food into her full, protesting body, Ellie reflected back on the night before. She had held the Scales and had summoned the Shadows without instruction from anyone. Even though she had been afraid and confused at the time, Ellie looked back on that moment with pride. She realized that she had only just begun, and yet she was already manipulating the Shadows to her will. It was funny how much one night's sleep had changed her perspective. Last night when everybody had left Ellie had confided in Malik of her failure of the trials and her fears of what her future might hold. She regretted opening her heart up to him, now, though. It seemed silly that she had been afraid. Nothing bad would happen to her unless she let it. And she wouldn't.

Malik had, Ellie noted, returned to his magazine. He was pointedly ignoring her gaze. She missed her Scales, and she had really and truly only felt their power the night before. Ellie imagined how powerless Malik must feel without them. They both had their wands with them in the hospital wing, but Ellie knew that without the Rod nearby to channel the Shadows, Malik couldn't use his. She sat up a little bit straighter when she realized that advantage. Not that she would use it, of course. No matter how angry Ellie got she would never hurt a friend, but she liked knowing that she held that over his head.

Speaking of advantages, she mused, Ellie remembered how she had gotten her hands on her Scales the night before. She had entertained the idea of Ryou liking her earlier yesterday morning, but that was really only because Hermione kept implying it. But when he walked in with that bouquet of flowers for her, Ellie knew that her friend was right. The flowers had been from Yugi and Malik as well, but Ryou had just looked so proud of himself that Ellie would have had to be an idiot to miss it. She flushed a little bit thinking about it. Of course, when she had hugged him afterwards his heart was thumping hard enough that she could both feel _and_ hear it against her head. She hoped Malik wouldn't look over and see her blush. Of course she was sure it was just a small crush, but she couldn't help but use that to her advantage when she wanted something from him. Everybody was telling her how it would be bad for her if she was to get her hands on the Scales, but Ellie knew that they were wrong. She still barely knew how to use them, and all she had wanted was to do was see them. It couldn't have really hurt her. Besides, Ellie hadn't really intended to con Ryou into handing them over, it had just kind of happened. She knew what she was doing, though. Ellie had definitely pulled those eyes on her father a few times. It never failed.

Once again, she felt a little bit of pride at having that power over him. But behind that, she felt a tiny bit guilty. Asking your father for things and getting them because you were his little girl was one thing, but exploiting Ryou's feelings for her own selfish reasons was another entirely. Especially since Ellie didn't think that she felt the same way about him. Oh, they definitely had chemistry. And she liked him very much and thought he was quite good looking, but with Bakura around it could never be much of a relationship. Besides, Ellie could think of a few other guys that would be willing to go out with her. Guys that would be a million times easier to have a private relationship with.

Ellie couldn't help but smile smugly to herself at that. She was having a lot of self-esteem issues as of late, but knowing that she had at least Ryou, Nikolai, and Mclaggen wanting to date her certainly wasn't hurting. Perhaps there were more, as well, she couldn't help but wonder. Ellie thought back to the Yule Ball the year before. She had only really accepted Nikolai's request to take her to the ball because he was a good friend of Krum's and Hermione had begged her, but they had ended up having a lovely time and had gone on a few dates afterward. They still exchanged the occasional letter, and Ellie fancied him a lot, but the distance made it difficult. Perhaps that bumped him off the list of easier guys to date after all, but there was no harm in keeping contact, was there? After she had agreed to go to the ball with Nikolai, Mclaggen, Dean Thomas, and a sixth year Ravenclaw Ellie didn't even know had all asked to go with her. No, she thought as her smug smile grew wider, it was a possibility that she had even more admirers.

"What are you grinning about over there?" Malik asked, interrupting her train of thought and wiping the smirk right off of her face.

"Er, nothing," Ellie replied hastily. She returned to her food. She only had one piece of bacon and half a glass of pumpkin juice left. It really was quite a feat that she had eaten as much as she had up to this point, because she had been full when she started this second plate. She picked up the last piece of bacon and forced it past her lips, chewed, and swallowed it into her reluctant stomach.

It churned painfully.

Perhaps Ellie was going to be sick, after all.

**xxx**

**If you guys are sharpening your pitchforks and chopping firewood in preparation of the angry mob that is about to go after Ellie, please let me join you. I couldn't help but hate her this chapter, even though I'm making her that way. But in the end, it's all just going to be more angst for Ryou. And that is what we love, right? Right!**

**Thank you all very much for reading! Don't be afraid to review, I am always glad to hear from you!**


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